


Inertia

by mrv3000



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Drama, F/M, Fix-It, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-10-16
Updated: 2006-10-15
Packaged: 2017-10-19 18:59:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 28,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/204186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrv3000/pseuds/mrv3000
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Doomsday fix-it fic reuniting the Doctor and Rose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was written prior to S3 airing, so Martha in this fic bears no resemblance to the real Martha Jones whatsoever. All I had to go on was Freema's casting spoiler.
> 
> Thanks to beck_liz and splash_the_cat for betaing; makesometime, elaminen and sethoz for Britpicking; and elismor for bouncing ideas!

"Martha!"

The Doctor stepped over one downed service droid and then another that still twitched.

It had been brilliant, hadn't it? He ran through it again. Yes, brilliant. Just needed an audience, and his was currently not in the vicinity.

He crouched down next to the twitching droid, poked at it with the sonic screwdriver and grinned. Really fried them all when the command link was severed. Destroying things was fun when non-sentient things were involved - no R2-D2s here. He held down the button on the screwdriver.

"Ooh, you won't be needing this, my friend, but I might." The Doctor liberated a gyroservo from the robot's casing and held it up. "Someday, that is. Never know when one of these will come in handy. Come to think of it, the toaster's been acting up again." He tossed it in the air once and then pocketed it. "And toast can always stand to be more...stable."

He poked around inside the droid but decided he had the only thing worth keeping. "Hmm. Do I need more?" He looked at the surrounding droids. No sense in being greedy.

The Doctor stood up and walked to one of the enormous, arched windows in the grand hall. There was really no point to the windows since the foliage outside obscured any view - probably placed there by the now-former dictator to shield him from the masses - but he could hear faint shouts from outside.

Probably one of those people would have thought it was brilliant.

"MARTHA!" he bellowed.

"Oi!" Martha poked her head around the corner of the main entry to the hall. "Wake the..." Her eyes darted around the room. "...non-living, why don't you?"

"Really now, Martha. Not even remotely funny, but I'll give you points for trying. Where've you been?"

He was rewarded with a wry smile. "Worried?"

The Doctor let out a small snort. "About a former Lieutenant in the Jangian guard?" He gave her a quick salute. "Never!"

She flinched and he kicked himself. Damn mouth.

 _Former._

Martha shrugged. "Was busy taking out the shield generator so these people can get off this rock. Someone has to save the world, you know."

"Someone, yes. Me, in fact. Oh!" He grabbed her by the shoulder and steered her out into the corridor towards the TARDIS. "So the magistrate was really a robot, yeah? How these people didn't notice I'll never know. And as I pulled off his head, I said, 'This isn't something to lose your head over. Oh, wait. Maybe it is!' Brilliant, yeah? Huh?" He grinned at her.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Guess you had to be there."

"Really now, Doc. Not even remotely funny, but I'll give you points for trying," she smirked.

"Seriously. What can I do to make you stop with the 'Doc?' Makes me sound like a rabbit. Or does it make you sound like a rabbit? Well, someone's sounding like a rabbit and it's not pleasant." He put his key into the TARDIS door.

"So, off we go then?" Martha asked. "Cleanup's not your thing."

"Yup. People have been liberated. What they do now is up to them. Besides, I've never been good with a mop."

She sighed and he ignored it. They'd had this conversation before.

"I'm gonna get something to eat," Martha announced, following him in. "You hungry?"

"Not really. But since you're headed to the galley," he pulled the gyroservo out of his pocket and tossed it to her. "Throw this in the top drawer, third from the right, would you?"

"Sure thing, _Doc_ ," she answered. He made a face at her and she chuckled as she left.

The Doctor frowned at the console and then batted at a lever with his hand, sending the TARDIS into the time vortex. There was no point in picking some new destination at the moment since Martha would probably want to sleep soon. So he let the TARDIS cruise as he hopped onto the chair, kicking his legs up onto the console.

He scratched at his knee, wrinkling the fabric of his blue suit. A faint noise from the direction of the galley grabbed his attention and he smiled.

Martha Jones.

He hadn't planned on picking up someone again so soon. Well, there had been the whole Donna nightmare, which he decided was the universe playing a really sick joke on him - it wouldn't have been the first time. But the TARDIS had caught a distress signal from a Delta Colony in the Pentaris Quadrant in the 34th century. Or what was left of the Delta Colony after a Birondite attack. Martha had been banged up but alive - the only one the TARDIS found out of nearly ten thousand. That had been six months ago, relative time.

By the time she had recovered, he found he liked having her around. He offered and she stayed.

But she kept things close to the vest and he didn't blame her. From what she had told him, he knew the Lieutenant thing, that she had just started training in medicine, she'd been stationed at the Delta Colony on a long-term assignment, she used to have a cat and she hated tea. The last two were fairly disturbing. Oh, and she was devastatingly beautiful but was the type that didn't care, or wanted you to think she didn't care. He hadn't quite decided on that one yet.

She reminded him a bit of Jack Harkness, without the libido from hell; a bit of Ace, without the need to blow everything up; and a bit of himself, without his fantastic wit, if he did say so himself. Not that she _needed_ to remind him of anyone, but it was hard not to haul out the mental checklist. He was just glad that he hadn't met her right after the regeneration into his previous incarnation. They probably would have found the nearest pub and drank themselves into oblivion.

The Doctor rubbed his eyes. His mind was starting to wander, which meant that soon he'd be...

"Vector tracker," he announced to the room. "Needs fixing, I'd imagine."

He whipped out the sonic screwdriver and threw himself under the flooring, poking at wires and tubes. But like every other time something didn't actually need fixing, he was soon back to doing it.

He was thinking about Rose.

*

"Well, stop touching it!" It was all Rose could do to not glare at the man who had just seconds ago asked her what he should do about the metal disk that kept shocking him. He blinked owlishly at her and set the object down on the table.

"Really, where do they find these people?" Rose muttered under her breath and retreated to her office, glancing at her name on the door. After nearly a year, she still found the thought of having an office bizarre, but at least it had a door. That could close. And lock.

She flopped down in her chair, wishing for some tea but not wanting to go back out at the moment. She so needed this holiday that would be starting in... She looked at her watch. Thirty minutes. Off to nowhere - no plans. Just her and a backpack.

She pecked at the computer and checked her email. One was from Mickey saying he and Jake wouldn't be flying back from the Glasgow office today, so he wouldn't see her before she took off.

"Oh well," Rose sighed. The guys would have dragged her out to a pub anyway and it probably wouldn't have been best to start out her trek with a hangover. She typed a 'don't do anything I wouldn't do' reply and sent it on its way.

Twenty-five minutes.

A tiny feeling in her stomach nagged at her, putting a damper on the excitement of the holiday. She'd only be gone a week and then she'd be right back at this desk, staring at the computer again.

Something Rose barely wanted to admit to herself was that after nearly a year, Torchwood was starting to lose its appeal. She should be grateful she still got to deal with the strange and unusual. She should. But here the strange and unusual mainly sat in crates and was poked at by scientists. The "Red Alert Incidents" - which she mentally changed to "Mauve" - where they rushed out beyond the walls of Torchwood, were few and far between. Most of them turned out to be nothing. Not that it was all dull - last week they found a meteor that was pretty intriguing, it being orange and humming and all, but it was packed up in a crate. And then poked at by scientists.

Hopping around time and space looking for the interesting was easy. But stuck in one time and on one planet, waiting for the interesting to come to you? There was a lot of down time. Rose spent most of her days wandering around to see if she recognized anything, or being visited by a wide-eyed person, looking at her as if _she_ was alien, asking if she knew what something did or what it was called. She was starting to make names up. That was probably bad.

The big problem was, what else was there?

She typed in her "away" auto-response message on her Torchwood email.

 _In the event of werewolves, mummies, zombies, non-friendly aliens or any other world-ending emergency during my absence, please contact Mickey Smith._   



He'd be so pleased to get her usual stream of scientists.

Twenty-one minutes.

Rose closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. It all came down to the fact that what she really wanted, she could never have. And she had no desire to get over that problem at the moment. The Doctor would probably be kicking her ass right now if he saw her. Rose was sure of it. She could still see that hologram that now seemed like a million years ago.

 _Do that for me, Rose. Have a fantastic life._   



Her fantastic life was a bit stalled at the moment. And now the Doctor would probably be getting that expression on his face that said 'I am so very old and so very wise' before he'd tell her to embrace her life. Of course, he wasn't here...

"Oh, to hell with it." Rose shut down the computer and grabbed her bag, switching off the lights as she closed the door behind her.

Wandering past one of the field agent's desks, she found two men in the middle of a conversation. "Has she tried bait?"

"Three kinds."

"Sounds like something for RSPCA or DEFRA then, John."

"Probably," the other replied.

"Problem?" Rose asked, part of her hoping for something interesting, and part of her wanting to just get out of there.

"Nah. Just some woman upset that slugs have taken a liking to her garden."

Rose chuckled and kept moving. "Right. See you in a week," she called over her shoulder.

The long drive home made Rose think of another thing she'd be glad to leave behind for a week: her car. It was a necessary evil since the house was so far out of town. She really needed to get her own place, but anytime she started talking about it, her mum would shut her down. Maybe it was something to bring up again after she got back.

She suddenly remembered she'd meant to pick up smaller bottles of shampoo and conditioner before heading out of town. She'd have to take her chances with the selection at the small store in the village near the house. Rose detoured left and found an empty spot just down the street. She hopped out and started walking.

And that's when she heard it.

It was soft at first. For a minute she thought she was losing it. But then it got louder.

She raced up the street in the direction she thought it had come from. The sound had stopped but it had to be somewhere close. She hurdled over a dog, much to the surprise of its owner, and rounded a corner to nothing.

Damn damn damn. Where the hell was it?

She flew across the street and around another corner, eyes instantly finding it - that wonderful, glorious, magnificent blue box!

He had done it! He'd found a way!

"WHOOO!" Rose yelled at the top of her lungs, throwing her arms in the air. Laughing and blinking back tears, she bounded towards the TARDIS. She heard the familiar creak of the door opening, music to her ears! She had a "took you long enough" all ready to go when she stopped.

He was...

He wasn't...

"Hello?" The Doctor, looking somewhat taken aback at his greeting party, stared at her with those bright blue eyes.

Then Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth and destroyer of the Emperor of the Daleks, did something very embarrassing.

She fainted.

*

The Doctor had arrived at the beating-himself-up-over-the-Torchwood-incident phase of his Rose musings, his favoured mental punishment. How could he have expected her to hold on? If only he had chains. Thoughts he'd had had no less than several hundred times before. But it was pointless to think about it since what was done was done.

He disconnected a wire, the TARDIS groaned, and he quickly reconnected it.

He prayed that she was getting on with her life. She had always been so worried about him leaving her, even as far back as their first visit to her home, and...well, it wasn't as if leaving her was his choice. Not in the end.

Sure, he had to try and get her to go with her mum, but she came back - which was more than predictable, it was inevitable. And then calmly telling him she'd never leave him, which she had been telling him in lots of ways since practically the beginning. He just never allowed himself to think like that. She was human after all, and so all that had been brushed aside.

Sort of.

Well, not really.

But, again, what was done was done and replaying it all would get him nowhere. Of course, that fact didn't seem to help during idle moments.

He sighed and brushed an errant piece of tubing away from his face.

He really wanted her to be happy now, and not spend her life with a pain he could never fix. But it was also the getting on with her life that he dreaded. She _should_ have the husband, probably Mickey, the kids and that damn mortgage. It was a proper human life, after all.

But then, his thoughts would have absolutely no effect on what actually happened to Rose, right? So in his mind, he could be selfish. It was harmless. Yes, how he was going to picture her was as Torchwood guru and mystery-solver extraordinaire who would have a happy, fulfilling, but very single life. Nun-like, even. She'd have a nice little house with a fence and a garden. Oh! And a dog. That she'd name Mickey.

He was happily stocking the bookshelves and DVD case in her nice little house when the TARDIS jolted violently, sending the screwdriver flying. Scrambling after it, he pitched to the side as the TARDIS shook again, this time banging his head against a platform support.

"Dammit, OW!"

Spotting the screwdriver, he grabbed it and hauled himself out of the flooring as the TARDIS continued to shake. Everything tilted as he got to his feet and he narrowly avoided crashing into the railing.

"Easy, now!" he yelled, lunging at the controls. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Martha stagger into the room.

"What's happening?" she shouted to him, trying to keep herself steady.

"Don't know! She's gone all...wonky."

"Technical term?"

"Very! Wonky," he said, smacking at a control. "Related to the state of wonk. Stated in the form of a sentence, the TARDIS will be going wonky today."

"Have I mentioned I'm glad you're in charge?"

The Doctor grinned as he tried flipping the manual override switch a few times with no response. The TARDIS was in control, although 'control' probably wasn't the best word. "Well, I'm not the one in charge at the moment. And seems we're headed for a landing." He looked up at the glow of the time rotor. "Usually she's much sneakier about it, turning up in 1879 instead of 1979 or Mongolia instead of Bannet Nine."

As if in response, the violent shaking subsided to a mere trembling.

"I wondered about the Mongolia thing," Martha commented.

The Doctor sucked in his breath. "But there's always some cosmic reason for it all. Oh, there's a good chance everyone will be covered in slime by the end of the cosmic reason, but then the universe does lean towards the dirty side."

"So, boots?"

He smirked and the TARDIS finally stopped moving. Usually he'd happily walk out the doors, not a clue where he was, but not under circumstances like these. He tapped at the monitor and waited as an image of the outside world appeared.

"Where are we?" Martha asked, peering over his shoulder.

The Doctor stared at the monitor.

Unbelievable.

He strode towards the doors, snatching up his coat from the railing, refusing to believe they were there. Maybe it just looked like it, he told himself as he shook on his coat and opened the door. But one step outside and he knew he was back.

It just wasn't fair.

The Doctor had purposefully not visited the same places he'd gone to with Rose. It was too soon. But now there he was. It was a few years later here, of course, but still. And the TARDIS had seen fit to land in the same damn spot as before.

Martha appeared from behind the TARDIS doors and instantly the Doctor went into intergalactic-tour-guide mode. He smiled at her.

"Martha? Welcome to New Earth."

*

Rose blinked open her eyes to find _him_ kneeling over her.

"Oh, awake then, I see."

She stared.

He stared back.

"Doctor?"

A puzzled expression appeared on his face. "Yes?" he asked slowly.

Rose started to laugh. She was going mad. Yes, that was it. Mad, and the Doctor would soon turn into a giant rabbit or something.

She sat up. "You're not supposed to look like that."

"Like what? Like me? I look just fine, thank you very much."

"You're from earlier, yeah?"

"What?"

Hold on. This couldn't be the Doctor she knew; if he had this face and was from an earlier time, he would still know her. Plus what the Doctor had said about not being able to hop between worlds...

Oh man, she was dumb.

This Doctor was _this_ universe's Doctor. But hadn't the Doctor said that was impossible? That there weren't parallel versions of himself? It seemed like he had said at one time, but she couldn't remember for sure. Although, it wouldn't have been the first time he was wrong. And now that she really looked at him, there was something different, although she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

"You're really not going to believe this," she said, putting a hand into her hair.

"You'd be surprised at what I believe. Try me!"

Rose took a deep breath. "Okay then. About a year ago I came to this world from a parallel universe. Before that I had been travelling around with the Doctor. The parallel version of you."

The Doctor stared at her and then smirked. "That's impossible. Almost had me going there for a mo." He wagged a finger at her and stood up.

"Really." Rose scrambled up after him, shaking off the lingering lightheadedness.

"Sorry. Not buying it," he said as he turned away from her.

Where was he going? Back to the TARDIS? Rose racked her brain for something irrefutable to give him and remembered something he had shared with her not too long before the whole Torchwood incident. It was a risk since things didn't always happen in the same way as in other worlds, but it was worth a try. "You got this body at the end of the Time War, yeah?"

He turned back, his eyes now dark and piercing.

"I'm sorry," she said. She felt the instinct of wanting to hold his hand or even hug him kick in, but she held herself back. "The same thing happened to the Doctor I was with. He ran into me right after it happened."

"It's been fifty years since the Time War. Every day I try not to think about it and what do I get? A blonde who faints at the sight of me, and then wakes up yapping about it."

"What, fifty years?"

"I moisturise."

Rose gave him a half smile. "It's not that. It's just that he only lasted in that body for about a year."

"Careless bloke."

Yeah, careless. Right. Rose suddenly thought of the game station. "Doctor!" she said urgently. "There are Daleks hiding in the year 200,100!"

He narrowed his eyes. "I don't think so."

"No, really. They were controlling Earth! The planet was all..." She waved her hands around, trying to find the right word. "...nasty." Good enough.

"The Fourth Great and Bountiful Empire? Swung by there about five years ago. Looked fine to me. Better than fine, in fact."

Rose frowned. "Okay, maybe not everything's the same."

He cocked his head to the side, looking quizzically at her. "All right. Say I believe you. Not sure how it's possible, but you look like you're telling the truth. Or think you're telling the truth."

" _Think?!_ How could I make this up?"

"Don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm the Doctor, which you apparently already know. And you are...?" He held out his hand and she shook it.

"Rose Tyler."

"Nice to meet you, Rose. And now if you'll excuse me..."

Rose quickly interrupted him. "Don't suppose you'd let me buy you a cup of tea or something. Two sugars? Or maybe..." She trailed off.

"Maybe what?"

Ever since she'd come to this world, she had been going through her life with a 'what else is there?' attitude. And now to have the Doctor, or a version of him, and that 'what else' life right in front of her? "Have tea on the TARDIS? Don't suppose you're in the market for a..." Again she tried to find the right word. "...an assistant?"

The Doctor took a step back from her, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I don't take up much room?" she tried.

"Suppose you've been preapproved."

"Yes!" Rose pointed at him. "Preapproved!"

"'Course the parallel me, which I'm not completely buying yet, mind, could be barmy."

"Only slightly." Rose felt a twinge of that lingering melancholy that had followed her in the past year. But she mentally pushed that aside, giving the Doctor a hopeful smile.

He moved his jaw back and forth. "All right. I'll give it a go."

She couldn't help it. Rose grabbed his hand and actually bounced. The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her and she stopped. "Sorry. Not mad," she said grinning at him. "Can we...?" She nodded at the TARDIS.

"Okay, but no bouncing," the Doctor said, smirking. He ambled over to the door and unlocked it. He barely had time to get out of the way before Rose dashed inside.

The glowing console and the arching beams, the hum of the TARDIS, even that faintly metallic smell all blasted into her. Rose ran her hand along the railing as she walked up the ramp. She was really here. Not some dream where she would wake up cursing the fact that it had only been in her mind. Her hand moved across the edge of the console as she mentally identified some of the buttons and knobs.

She now thought she had the _tiniest_ inkling of what the Doctor felt with the TARDIS and why he even stroked it, as Sarah Jane had put it. This was home.

The Doctor's head appeared from the other side of the console. "Call me crazy, but I have a sudden urge to make sure there are no Daleks in 200,100."

"Sounds pretty opposite of crazy to me." Rose hovered as he manoeuvred the controls and peered at the monitor. "I should probably mention we also found a Dalek in a museum run by a man named Van Statten."

"That nutter? He wanted to add me to his collection, which I ever so impolitely declined, but he didn't have any Daleks."

"Huh. Oh," she said as she waved in the direction of the monitor. "There was something about the Daleks being hidden because of some signal put out by the game station."

The Doctor fiddled with the controls. "Did find one on Justicia. Don't suppose you ever went there," he said, still staring at the monitor.

"Justicia? The prison system? There weren't any Daleks there. Not when we went."

"Nope," the Doctor announced as he straightened up. "No Daleks, no signal and no game station as a matter of fact." He clapped his hands together and grinned at her. "Right, Rose Tyler. Where do you want to go first?"

*

"Come on. Here we go." The Doctor walked briskly towards the bridge that would take them to the city of New New York, his coat flapping in the breeze.

"This place is amazing. When are we?" Martha asked, scrambling after him.

"The year five-point-five-slash-apple-slash-fifty-three. Or five billion and twenty-seven, whichever floats your boat."

"Blimey."

"Oh, I'd watch out for the cat people. They lean towards morally ambiguous. Of course, that's a cat for you."

"Cat people?"

"I wonder if there are any non-nun cats. They may all be locked up," the Doctor mused. "Now here's a thought - did the cat people have cats? That would be amusingly odd. Of course, humans do seem to like monkeys, so there is precedent."

"Back on the monkey thing, are we?"

"Well, you should be happy you lot didn't evolve from anteaters!" he said, sidestepping a plant. "Big, long noses. Small, little ears. All the..." The unmistakable glow of a teleport appeared to his left and the Doctor and Martha stopped. "...ants."

"It is very good to see you again, Doctor," a telepathic voice called to him.

The Doctor smiled. "Martha? Might I introduce the Face of Boe?"

"Nice to meet you," she said to him. "Do I shake anything?" she whispered to the Doctor.

He chuckled and walked up to the life support tank. "So," he said, putting his hands in his pockets, "I have a feeling I have you to thank for our detour. As you said, 'the third time, for the last time?'"

"Indeed it is."

"And by last time, you mean..."

"It is now my time to die."

The Doctor couldn't help but feel for this legend of the universe. "I'm sorry."

The Face of Boe closed his eyes, his lips moving but no thoughts sent. Finally, eyes still closed, he said, "I have had more than a full life."

"Yes you have." The Doctor gave him a warm smile.

He looked up at him. "My apologies, Doctor. I should not have tried to summon you on your last trip here. I was mistaken as to your time." Even though telepathic, his words had become slow and deliberate.

"Ah, so that's why you left. You had to meet me at a certain point in my time. And this is the correct time?"

"Quite right."

"Very intriguing," the Doctor said, loving the mystery of it all. "So on Platform One, were you mistaken as well?"

"No, that was deliberate," he said slowly. "Let's just say I was curious."

"And was that curiosity satisfied?"

"Yes, it was." There was a touch of amusement in the Face of Boe's voice.

"And so now we're here. And you have a great secret."

"Great, yes. And in some ways..." he trailed off.

"Some ways?" the Doctor prompted.

"You said you weren't ready," he said faintly into the Doctor's mind.

" _I_ said?"

The Face of Boe closed his eyes, murmuring.

"Did I tell you to meet me?" the Doctor asked.

"The secret...the secret..." The Face of Boe gave a weary sigh. "There is a legend. To some who have read it, it is prophecy."

"Read what?"

"Come."

The next second, the Doctor and Martha were surrounded by the glow of a teleport.

*

Rose rattled off times and places where she and the Doctor had helped or rescued people, to see if they needed help or rescue again. Unlike the incidents with the Daleks, the Doctor scratched each one off her list with a "been there, done that." Sure the details were different, but it made her wonder about how the Doctor chose where to go each day. Or maybe the TARDIS had a lot to do with it. They did seem to end up in the wrong spots often enough.

He then started listing some places, which Rose nixed, having gone to them herself. They just hadn't been on her "need to save the world" list.

"How long did you say you travelled with him?" the Doctor finally asked, taking a seat.

"I sorta lost track of time. I think it was about two years."

"You two were busy."

"So..." Rose looked around. "No one else here? You between travelling companions at the moment?"

"Well, not between anymore," he said with a smile. "But yeah. Last person on the TARDIS was Camron. He was a Plarnite, which meant cleaning up a lot."

Rose smirked at the implication. "When was that?"

"'Bout twenty years ago."

"What? You've been on your own for that long?"

"I'm a big boy. I'm pretty good at looking after myself."

"But...don't you miss having someone around? Talking to someone?"

"I talk to people all the time out there," he waved towards the door.

That thing, that difference she couldn't identify before - it was in his eyes. When she had met the Doctor, her Doctor, there was raw pain there. But this Doctor - there was a sort of sad resignation. And he was alone.

Or maybe her mind was just filling in blanks that weren't there.

"It's not the same," she said.

"So now you're a judge of my social skills?"

"Sorry. No."

She ached at the thought that her Doctor could be alone like that. That he might go wandering around for years, even decades without someone. But no, with his new body came a new personality and one that was very social, right? Surely he would have found someone to travel with by now. She just couldn't picture him sitting alone in the TARDIS. She wouldn't let herself.

No, she wanted to believe that right now he was off being himself, surrounded by people that cared about him and generally having fun. And hopefully more fun than she and this Doctor were having at the moment. "Well, I'm stumped. Think of anything yet?" Rose asked, watching the Doctor stare into the glow.

"Right. Got it," the Doctor declared, moving to the console. "Tea. You said tea and so we'll have tea. Ever been to Bannet Nine?"

"Doesn't sound familiar."

"Always wanted to go. Best tea in the universe is made there! Just always got sidetracked for some reason."

She grinned at him. "Fantastic!"

He grinned back.

"Oh, hang on." Rose fished in her jacket pocket and pulled out her mobile and a crumpled wad of notes that had been meant for the shampoo. "Gotta make a call," she said, shoving the money back in the pocket.

"Sorry, that won't work in here," he said as he went about adjusting the controls.

She waved the mobile at him. "Superphone. Very handy. Haven't gotten a bill yet."

Rose purposely called the house instead of her mum's mobile and was relieved when she got the machine.

"You guys are _not_ going to believe this. I ran into the Doctor! Well, the one from this universe. And, mum, he looks like he used to look!" Rose glanced at the Doctor, who was doing a bad job of pretending not to listen. "Oh, I left the car on Thomas Street, down from the market and my bag's in there." Rose patted the console and grinned again. "We're going to a planet called Bannet Nine! For tea! Can you believe it? Love you lots and kiss Petey for me!" She pushed the button on the mobile.

"You have family in this world?" The Doctor looked surprised.

"It's a long story, but yeah. My mum and my friend Mickey also came over from the other universe."

"I think I'd like to hear that story. Sounds like tea conversation."

Rose suddenly felt a lump in her throat that she swallowed against. "Yeah. Sure." Maybe some stuff she'd leave out.

The TARDIS stopped moving and Rose put that feeling away, back to that familiar corner of her mind, and instead focused on the fact that they had just landed on a whole new planet. She was about to breathe non-Earth air, see non-Earth things and drink non-Earth tea. She shot the Doctor a smile and took off down the ramp.

Rose couldn't help it, she laughed as she stepped foot out of the TARDIS and onto the alien world, which earned her a suspicious look from the Doctor as he followed her.

"Still not mad, right?" he asked.

"Not anymore. Let's go!"

They started walking through the vast, open meadow the TARDIS landed in, towards a structure that looked to be about a mile away. Unfamiliar sounds and smells surrounded her in the brown, grassy landscape. A small, red bird flew overhead and she watched it until it finally disappeared into a very green tree, its leaves rustling in the light, warm breeze.

It all was intoxicating.

Rose bent down and plucked a flower from the ground.

"It's green!" She smiled. "And it's beautiful! And it smells..." She sniffed it. "Okay, it smells really bad. But it's still beautiful." She held it out towards the Doctor.

"Yup. Beautiful." He glanced at it and then began to scan the horizon with a look that Rose recognized.

"Trouble?"

"You see any tea plants?"

"Well, no. But I just figured we landed in a non-tea spot."

"Something's not right."

Rose dropped the flower and began looking around as well, her guard now up. A beautiful meadow which was surrounded by groves of trees - it was all the perfect setting for a picnic. But if the Doctor was concerned, she'd be stupid not to be as well.

As they neared the structure, a metallic grid-like tower that rose about twenty feet in the air, Rose noticed movement to their right. She stopped and a pair of tiny eyes surrounded by a mound of tan fur blinked at her. The little animal, barely bigger than her foot, chirped.

"Aww, how sweet!" She crouched down but kept her distance. It blinked at her again.

"Rose?"

Rose looked up and there, hovering above them with barely a sound, was a round, grey thing, about a meter in length. It had a shiny black band across what she assumed was the front and it sort of reminded her of the bottom part of one of those old-fashioned vacuum cleaners.

The thing hovered for a moment and then a bright beam shot out from it, straight at the animal. Rose jumped back and instinctively grabbed onto the Doctor's jacket sleeve. The thing turned towards the Doctor and Rose before hovering off into the trees.

Rose stared at the now-charred remains of the little creature.

"Okay, pretty sure this isn't Bannet Nine," the Doctor said, starting to walk again.

"What was that?" Rose asked, scrambling after him.

"We're on a wild game planet. That drone you saw? Runs about three million credits. Fun for the idle rich."

"They're hunting these creatures for sport?"

"Fox. Deer. Fish. Sounding familiar?"

"Yeah. Why didn't it shoot us?"

"They're programmed for one thing. They have these clubs where they find a planet and set their drones loose on a specific target. Whoever's drone scores the most, wins."

"Scores?" Rose felt a bit sick. "Can't we do something?"

"Stay out of the way?"

"Oh, that's nice." Another ball of fur skittered past her legs, whining as it went. "Doctor!"

He stopped at the tower. "Right. Relay for the drones. Take out the relay, take out the drones."

Rose sighed in relief that this Doctor hadn't turned out to be a heartless - or was that heartsless - fluffy animal destroyer. Not that he was actually killing them, but not doing anything would have been pretty much the same in her book.

As the Doctor climbed up the tower, Rose watched for any sign of movement. Sure he said they were only programmed to hunt one thing, but who knew if they were also programmed to protect the relay? She wondered how far their range was. Did they hunt the whole planet?

The Doctor was smiling when he climbed back down. "Sent a signal back to wherever the fat cats are sipping their brandy. They won't be using their controller again anytime soon."

Rose felt his satisfaction. "Good."

"Bet they're standing there right now, crying about their..." He didn't finish. His eyes shot up over her shoulder. Rose turned. Two drones were now headed in their direction. "Oh. Whoops."

"Whoops, what? Doctor?"

"Default mode."

"What the hell is that?"

"It's...RUN!"

*

The cavern was eerily familiar; its vastness was broken by statues crumbling with age, illuminated by some indeterminate source. The Doctor saw pillars and steps at the far end, leading into some kind of structure carved out of the rock. However, in this place there was no capped pit, at least that he could see.

And then there were the tablets. Giant tablets that appeared to be carved from the walls themselves, jutting out slightly from the stone. They were covered with the writings the TARDIS could not translate, the same writings as on the planet with no name that sat under the black hole, and the stones lined the cavern as far as he could see.

"Absolutely amazing," Martha breathed.

The Doctor walked up to a tablet and ran his hand over the smooth surface. "These writings. I've seen these before." He turned to the Face of Boe. "What is all this?"

The Face of Boe closed his eyes with a weary groan, his forehead creasing. Movement caught the Doctor's eye and he jerked his hand away, stepping back from the wall. The indistinguishable characters were moving, changing in front of him.

He could read it now.

"It starts here," the Face of Boe said, still with closed eyes.

The Doctor jogged over to what looked like the beginning, pulled out his glasses and began to read. They were overly poetic, flowery words, but that was prophecy for you. He had only gotten to the middle of the first tablet when he stopped, his mouth hanging open. "Impossible."

He turned to the Face of Boe. "This is _impossible_."

The Face of Boe opened his eyes slightly, but the Doctor only heard murmurings in his mind. The Doctor stared at the writings that seemed to go on forever.

It was about him.

He started briskly walking along the wall, events of his life flashing in front of him. It was all there. Things he had done, people he had known. Jo. Romana. Sarah Jane. Nyssa. Everyone. Not that it said their names outright, but he recognized them all. Sometimes the words dwelled on an event; other things were barely mentioned. The Ice Warriors. The Vardans. The Black and White Guardians. The Cheetah People.

Everything.

But then he stopped dead in his tracks. Stopped at the point of inevitability.

The Time War.

He read in horror as battle after battle played out in words, reliving each moment, images assaulting his mind. And then the names. Oh, the names.

Karn. The first to fall.

Arcadia. Where he had been on the front line; so much death and destruction all around him.

Gallifrey. Where he alone had ended it. Ended it all.

And all the names in between. No vague references on this tablet. He slowly ran his hand over them. And then two words at the very bottom turned his blood to ice.

 _They burned._   



He pressed his forehead to the stone.

"Why is this here?" he asked softly, still leaning against the tablet. He turned to the Face of Boe, who was now a fair distance away. "Why is this here?" he yelled out. "What is the point? Who wrote this?!" But he was only rewarded with more murmurings in his mind, and echoes of the past ringing in his ears.

The Doctor closed his eyes, and for only about the third time in his life he lost track of time. Visions swirled in his head and he did nothing to stop them. He deserved them.

When he opened his eyes again, he wasn't sure if he had been there seconds or hours. Hand still on Gallifrey, he pushed away from the stone, brushing the name as he forced himself to go on to the next tablet, actually willing himself to move.

He adjusted his glasses and began to read. Distracted by memories, he had to read the text twice before it registered that these words were oddly familiar.

 _He was now a wanderer, a man without a home. Fated by the universe was this Lonely God. But into this darkest time of despair and grief came the Valiant Child._   



Very familiar words. Not only had the legend referred to him using those words, the Beast had used those exact words about Rose. Apparently the Beast had been doing a little reading, which meant this not only was the same language, but probably the same words that had been on that planet. Again his mind railed against the "why?" of it all.

The Doctor read on, trying to smile at the descriptions of his adventures with Rose, but that ache from reliving the war made her loss even more acute. She'd never known just how much she had helped him through the horror of those early days and right now, more than anything, he wanted to touch her. Just holding her hand would be enough.

A block of text jolted him from his longing.

 _But hidden in the dark space, the enemy of the war had survived to do battle with him. To save him from his fate, the Valiant Child willingly sacrificed herself, forever giving up her being so that she too burned away._   



That made no sense. Rose hadn't died. He looked at the next tablet. It started up with talking about his latest incarnation and more with Rose, so it really made no sense. None at all...

And then a thought occurred to him. A horrible thought. But he pushed it aside and read more.

The ache returned as the words swam in front of him. The text spoke of friendship, the beginnings of understanding, and even of love. Of course, that was all gone now. Words spoke of the Beast and how encountering him would foretell the death of the Valiant Child. Obviously the Beast hadn't read any further since Rose wasn't really dead.

He read on through the events of Torchwood. Then came events with Martha, and finally a reference to meeting the Face of Boe on New Earth. And that's where the text stopped translating. Had the Face of Boe taken precautions? It never was a good idea to know too much about your own future after all. Or was it something else? A wild idea hit him that the text was linked to him and would only translate after he lived through it, but he abandoned that thought.

But hold on.

Something else had been odd in the section about Rose, but he had skimmed past it, not wanting to dwell on yet one more pain. He jogged back to the section about Torchwood and there it was. While most of the words on the walls were ridiculously obscure, all of them were deliberate.

 _In this time of separation they were now divided by two worlds._   



His eyes widened.

Time of separation.

The next second he was running back to the Face of Boe, skidding to a stop in front of him. "I can get to her?" He knelt in front of him, pressing his palms against the glass. "Tell me. Please," he pleaded.

The Face of Boe opened his eyes slightly. "Traedan's Sphere," he said.

"What is that? Where do I find it?"

The Face of Boe breathed heavily. "You are not alone." The breathing stopped.

The Doctor closed his eyes, his hands still on the glass.

"Doctor?" Martha called softly from behind him.

He didn't answer; instead he turned to the cavern wall. So much knowledge, so many secrets and so many answers had just died with this being.

He shook his head and stood up, staring at the Face of Boe.

"He needs a proper burial," the Doctor finally said, taking off his glasses. He walked to the back of the life support tank and located the teleport controls. A flash of light later and they were all back out on the cliff. He pulled the psychic paper out of his coat pocket and handed it to Martha. "Go to the Isop consulate in New New York and tell them of his death. You can say you were his travelling physician."

Martha looked at the psychic paper. "What are you going to do?"

"I have to check on something." He nodded to her, as he headed towards the TARDIS. "Go on, hurry."

When she was out of sight, he broke into a run.

 _To save him from his fate, the Valiant Child willingly sacrificed herself, forever giving up her being so that she too burned away._   



He jammed his key into the TARDIS door, barely taking the time to slam it shut behind him. He ran down the corridor to Rose's old room, the room he had avoided since Torchwood, and shoved open the door. Scanning the room with a quick glance, his eyes settled on her hairbrush. Yes. Grabbing it, he flew back out and to the med bay.

There couldn't be another casualty to the Time War. There just couldn't. It was too much. He sprinted down the hallway.

He would have been able to tell, wouldn't he? Although... No, he never noticed a thing and so never had the urge to look at her DNA. Never needed to say, 'Say, Rose. Think I feel like seeing if you've got a pesky triple helix. No reason.'

Now inside the med bay, he flipped the switch on a machine, and then pulled a strand of Rose's hair from the brush with a nearby tweezers, careful not to touch it himself. Placing the hair in the machine, he shoved on his glasses and stared at the monitor, waiting for it to spit out the answer. After what seemed like an eternity, an image came into focus.

"Oh god."


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand and they ran for the tree line where they threw themselves down into a thicket. Chirping loudly, a few furry little animals shot out from the undergrowth, straight out into the meadow. The drones changed direction and hovered off after the new targets, making Rose wince.

"So, default mode?" she whispered.

"Shoot anything that moves," he said in a low voice.

"What kind of a stupid setting is that?"

"It comes in handy when playing conquer the planet," the Doctor said dryly.

"Can they see heat?"

"Yeah, but it must not be switched on. Giant hot human would have been much more tempting than little ball of fur."

"At least there's that. Okay, so what now?"

"I need to send out another signal. Thought I had the right one. Apparently not."

"So you need time to mess with the relay, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Right. Distraction time." Before the Doctor could respond, Rose jumped up and started shouting, waving her arms above her as she ran out into the clearing. "Come and get me!"

"ROSE!" she heard from the trees.

"FIX THE RELAY!" she yelled back as she ran across the meadow towards the tree line on opposite side. Fortunately the meadow wasn't as wide as it was long, but it was still far enough. Glancing over her shoulder she saw three drones headed her way.

Darting into the woods, Rose led the drones away from the clearing. One of the drones fired, scorching the tree next to her.

"Oh, not good," Rose muttered. She focused on a dense clump of trees and bolted for it, leaping over fallen branches on the ground.

She almost made it. Almost.

Laser fire glanced across her hand as she disappeared into the trees. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she crouched down, hoping not to give them a target. The drones hovered around her hiding spot, moving to different angles as she peered through the branches, trying to keep an eye on them while staying out of sight.

A noise caught her attention, and the drones' as well – they simultaneously turned and hovered off. Probably some poor little creature. Rose sighed, leaning her head back against a tree. Hopefully that had been enough time for the Doctor to do something.

She couldn't see anything from her hiding place, but it'd probably be good to hang out for a while anyway, just in case. Her hand throbbed, but fortunately it didn't look _too_ bad. Just a burn across the back.

Rose heard a chirp next to her and looked down. Tiny eyes blinked up at her.

"Okay, don't bite me." She cautiously petted it and it chirped again.

Suddenly its nose started to twitch and it took off through the branches as a head poked into her hiding place. "You're bonkers, you know that?"

Rose jumped. Someday she would figure out the Doctor's ability to sneak around. And his uncanny ability to find things. Some of the time, that was. "It's about time!"

"Don't do that again. It was stupid." He grabbed her hand to pull her out, but chose the wrong hand. Rose cried out and he dropped it as quickly as if he had been burned. "What happened?"

Rose pushed herself up with her uninjured hand. "Oh, you know. Laser fire. The usual. Drones taken care of?"

"Yup. They'll be hunting each other now. You done with this planet?"

"Absolutely."

Upon returning to the TARDIS, the Doctor herded Rose into the med bay despite her protests that her hand wasn't that bad.

"Oh right. Next thing you know it's infected," the Doctor blustered at her.

Rose sighed. "You sound like my mother," she said as she hopped up on one of the tables while the Doctor rummaged through a drawer.

"A wise woman, your mother."

Rose burst out laughing. "If she could hear you say that now! The Doctor and her never did see eye-to-eye. Second time she saw him she smacked him one!"

The Doctor gave her a horrified look. "Never been smacked by someone's mother before."

"He said the same thing," Rose said, chuckling to herself at the memory.

"Well, don't count on a repeat performance." The Doctor poked at his chest. "I don't do families."

Rose dropped her head, hiding a wistful smile. "Yeah, I know."

"Right then. Hand."

As he ran a familiar device over the burn, she stared at his hands - she remembered when they looked like this.

And suddenly she was back to right when they had dropped off, well, kicked off Adam, right after Satellite 5. The Doctor had similarly shuttled her off to the med bay, where he had fussed over the minor burns she had gotten on her wrists from the electric restraint cuffs. He had used the same device then.

"Have you right in a mo," he told her, giving her a smile.

Rose shook her head as the Doctor looked back at her hand. That had been exactly what he had said then. Even the way he said it was the same.

"There! All better now!" The Doctor patted her now-healed hand and tossed the device back in the drawer.

Rose hopped off the table with a smile. "Thanks."

He grinned at her. "They don't call me the Doctor for nothing."

Rose found herself grinning back. "Oh yeah?"

"Cuts and bruises? Piece of cake," he said, clicking his fingers.

"With a little help from the thing in the drawer."

"Who do you think made the thing in the drawer?"

Rose smirked. "You think you're so impressive."

"I _am_ so impressive!" he declared, trying to look annoyed but with an unmistakable twinkle in his eyes.

Holy deja vu.

"Well, thanks for the hand. Loved it," she said backing away. "I'm gonna go..." She shook her head again. "Um, sleep now. Thirty minutes on a planet and I'm done for."

He raised an eyebrow at her, which Rose was not finding attractive in any way whatsoever. Not at all. She ran into the doorframe on her way out but kept going, heading straight for the room she'd had before.

Rose flopped on the bed, the one with the same exact covers on it next to the same exact chair that was next to the same exact dresser. The overwhelming familiarity wasn't helping to keep things straight. She stared up at the ceiling.

What the hell was she doing?

He wasn't the same guy. Really wasn't. But it would be so easy to pretend and then maybe even someday forget, wouldn't it? After all, her Doctor would want her to embrace her new life, right? Even it was with a new him?

God.

She rubbed her eyes. Her mum had done it, after all. Gotten together with her dad in this world. Although...Pete wasn't really her dad, was he? He looked like her dad and any genetic test would say he was her dad, but she had watched her dad die in 1987. More than that, her dad had sacrificed his life to save her. To save the world. That was her dad.

Rose flung her arm across her eyes.

This wasn't her Doctor. He wasn't the man who held her hand as he showed her the universe. He wasn't the one who told her she was beautiful before remembering she was human. Wasn't the one who kept trying to take her to concerts but kept failing. Wasn't the one to pull her away from a black hole or the one to dance with her in Albion Hospital. He wasn't the one who took her to the London Olympics or the one to comfort her when she mourned her father.

He wasn't the one she loved.

Rose rolled over and buried her head into the pillow.

*

The Doctor wandered back to the console room, the image of Rose's dormant third strand of DNA burned into his mind.

She'd regenerate.

More than that, the new body wouldn't be human. It'd be Gallifreyan.

He spent over an hour studying the result, checking it all again and again, just to be sure. There was no denying the facts though, as much as he wanted to. He slumped into the chair, vaguely aware that Martha had returned and was in the room. Two phrases kept turning in his mind.

 _...she too burned away._

 _I am the Bad Wolf._




The Doctor dropped his head.

"What's wrong?" Martha asked quietly.

He looked up to her. She was perched on the railing.

"The TARDIS decided to play Mary Shelley," he answered bitterly. For the first time since she got pulled away, he was really glad Rose wasn't around at the moment. He needed to process and she wouldn't understand his reaction. No, Rose wouldn't see the big picture. Not yet, that was. Might take her years, even decades before it really hit her: the loss of her humanity. "God. Rose."

"Who's Rose?"

"I killed her," the Doctor said numbly.

"She's dead?"

The Doctor ignored the misunderstanding. "She was supposed to have a human life. A brilliant human life. And I took that away. Oh, she might have opened up the TARDIS, but..." He couldn't finish.

In his mind a war was raging.

It was an _abomination_. If the Time Lords were alive there would be inquiries and trials, and rightfully so. The human known as Rose Tyler was dead. A life cut short because of a whim of another.

Two others, actually.

The problem was that there was no way to hide himself from the TARDIS. So all his "harmless" thoughts about Rose up until the game station had done her in. The TARDIS had seen his pain, his loneliness and naturally wanted to fix that. Could he fault her? She had also seen his growing need, and even love, for Rose, and so when she had stepped into the TARDIS' path, and found Rose also shared her desire to end his pain and loneliness, the TARDIS took her.

He pressed his hand against his face and stared into the glow of the console, the ever-present hum the only sound. He could sense the TARDIS was either indifferent or unrepentant for what she had done. Probably the latter.

He still couldn't get his mind around the fact that the whole time since the game station, Rose had been changed. She hadn't really been human any more. But she was still Rose. Everything that happened after that, it was all still Rose.

And suddenly he was hit with the overwhelming need to touch her again. To hold her. He wanted her to tell him everything was okay. That she'd do it all over again if she could. He wanted her to give him absolution.

"Who's Rose?" Martha asked again.

"Rose is..." He thought for a moment. "Rose is..." Why did he always have such a hard time putting anything about her into words? "She was a nineteen-year-old shopgirl who I pulled out of a store basement before I blew it up. The store, not the basement. Although I'm sure the basement got a bit singed. And then..." He stopped again. A blur of images, thoughts and words collided in his mind.

"Nineteen," she stated. "And you're...nine hundred."

The Doctor glanced at Martha who had a quizzical look on her face. "She's twenty-one now," he said a little too defensively.

She didn't look impressed.

"After a few centuries, things like age start to have less meaning," he said, not convincing even himself.

"If you say so."

That old pang of mild guilt, the one that crept in whenever the subject of age came up, worked its way out of the little corner he kept it stuffed into. The guilt that hit him when Sarah Jane had called him 'Tiger' or when Jackie would look disapprovingly in his direction.

It wasn't as if he had gone on the prowl for some barely-adult blonde. That wasn't it. That was so far from it. But he knew how it looked.

And it wasn't just that. Not only age but species and intellect - they all added up to inconceivable. Improbable. Nonsensical, even. But when he was with Rose, right or wrong, all of that seemed to fall away.

"It wasn't some big plan," the Doctor sighed. "It just was." He closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. There hadn't been a plan to...to what? To fall for her? The term sounded so puerile and _hardly_ something he was used to thinking in reference to himself, but right now it felt accurate.

So no, there hadn't been a plan to fall so completely for Rose Tyler, but he _had_ wanted someone's hand to hold as he crossed the universe, and so had damned the consequences from day one. And damned her.

Now it was more than wanting to get her back, he _needed_ to get her back. He couldn't let her be blindsided by a regeneration. Nor was it acceptable for her to go through the world, never dying but always alone. She didn't deserve that...

"I was engaged."

The Doctor's eyes snapped open. Martha was looking down and reaching into her top, pulling out the ever-present chain that hung around her neck. At the end was a ring. She held it up, staring at it.

"They wouldn't let me wear it on my hand while on duty. Too distracting, I guess." She gave him a small, humourless laugh. "Got used to wearing it like this."

"Was he at the Delta Colony?"

Martha nodded.

"I'm sorry."

Martha turned it over with her fingers. "Sean was a scientist. A real geek-type, you know? Geologist." She smiled. "But he was..." She cleared her throat. "He was the one that helped me discover my interest in the medical field. And talked me into convincing my commander that having me study medicine would be an asset to him." She had a faraway look in her eyes. "He always knew I could be more than a girl with a gun."

"Sounds like he was a good man."

"The best. The absolute best. No offence, Doc, but you couldn't hold a candle to him."

The Doctor gave her a small smile. "I'm sure I couldn't."

"People said it would never work. Guess they were right." She tucked the ring back into her shirt, her hand trembling slightly. By the time she'd straightened the collar of her shirt, her calm exterior had returned. "Right. Something about Traedan's Sphere?"

The Doctor suddenly realized that the Face of Boe had included Martha in his telepathic thoughts. "I've never heard of it. No clue what it is or where to look."

"Well, we'd better get started then."

"Are you sure you want in on this? Won't be much joy-riding now."

"Wandering aimlessly through the universe is okay, I suppose, but now?" Martha said, suddenly looking pleased. "Now we have a mission objective."

*

After an hour of lying on her bed, Rose gave up trying to sleep and wandered into the console room. The Doctor was peering at the monitor but looked up when she stepped onto the platform.

"Can't sleep?" the Doctor asked.

"Nah."

"Useless pastime anyway. So, off to someplace new?"

Rose frowned. "Know any places that make banana daiquiris? Not just any banana daiquiris, really good ones."

"Yeah, right."

"You don't then?"

"You're serious?"

Rose sighed. "Pretty much."

"Didn't realize you were a lush."

"You ever have one of those days where all you want to do is find a pub and stay there?"

"Yeah, I know a place," the Doctor said slowly.

Soon Rose found herself in a cantina in Acapulco in 1959. The Doctor told her that the man sitting at a table in the back corner was some Hollywood actor. Rose didn't recognize him.

Ceiling fans swirled warm air overhead in the small, mainly empty room, and Rose began to play with a flower in a glass in the centre of the table she'd grabbed while the Doctor went to order their drinks. Somewhere a radio was playing some kind of guitar music that seemed to fit the sleepy mood of the place.

"All ordered," the Doctor said, taking a seat.

"You come here often?"

He smirked at her. "I'm already buying you a drink, you know."

She chuckled. "No, really."

He leaned his arms on the table. "I've been known to drop by on occasion."

"Huh."

"What?"

"Just that the other Doctor wasn't much of a drinker."

"When I said 'on occasion' that's what I meant. It's not like I hang out in pubs. I've got better things to do with my time."

Shortly their drinks arrived. Rose had one sip of the banana daiquiri and remembered she never liked them in the first place. "Want it?" she asked, pushing it towards the Doctor. "You like bananas."

"Pass, thanks," he said, taking a sip from one of the glasses in front of him.

"What's that again?"

" _Completo_ \- sangrita and tequila. Glasses. Not shots. And much more civilized than your umbrella drink."

"Oh my, we do have airs, don't we? I'll have that then."

The sangrita was okay, but it was quickly abandoned for the tequila which made her feel warm and relaxed. Another round of drinks had them swapping stories about similar times and places. The Doctor was particularly amused that her Doctor had let Adam on board because she thought he was cute.

"So he let someone on the TARDIS just so you could have a boyfriend?" he asked with a smirk.

She laughed. "Well, boyfriend status, which I'm not completely admitting now, lasted for approximately ten minutes."

The Doctor grinned at her. "Never liked the looks of him anyway."

"Well, he got kicked off the TARDIS a few hours later."

"Poor bloke. Loses his girl and gets thrown out all in the same day."

"He deserved it. Although I do feel kinda bad about the hole in his head." Rose giggled at the memory, leaning her head on her hand. Yeah, really, really relaxed.

"I'm not even gonna ask."

More drinks were ordered and the Doctor told her his version of encountering the werewolf in Scotland. He'd also figured out the thing with the Koh-i-noor and had also managed to get on the Queen's bad side. Funny, that.

"Banished me! Couldn't believe it! Here I go and save her and she banishes me!"

Rose grabbed his arm. "I know! What was that all about?"

"Right. So maybe I made a few werewolf jokes here and there."

Rose finished off her third tequila. Or was it her fourth? Fifth? "Oh! We-are-not-amused jokes here. Got her to say it even." Rose clunked down the glass. "Oh damn!"

"What?"

She started laughing uncontrollably. "The Doctor owes me ten quid!"

The Doctor leaned forward, grinning. "Non transferable."

A hand plunked down a glass of tequila on the table and the Doctor and Rose looked up, Rose still laughing. The bartender nodded at them. "For the lady from the gentlemen over there." He waved to the actor in the corner of the room.

Rose turned in her chair and held up the glass towards him. "Cheers!" She leaned over towards the Doctor. "Who'd you say that was again?"

"James Darren."

"Cheers, James Darren!" She downed the entire glass. Rose spun back which made everything a bit...spinny for a minute. She held the glass down on the table with both hands to steady herself.

"You've probably had enough."

"Probably." Rose grinned and stared at him. "You know what?"

"What?"

"You look so much like him."

"Maybe he looks like me," he said, smiling.

"Well, not any more 'cause I opened up the heart of the TARDIS." Rose swung her hand to demonstrate.

"You what?!" The smile instantly disappeared.

"Yup." Rose leaned her head against her hand again. "Opened it right up. And then you...I mean he had to kiss it right out of me. That was a great kiss," she said dreamily.

"So that's what made him regenerate," the Doctor said, staring at the table.

"After that, it was lovely. Well...I'm not talking about the French woman and you can't make me," Rose pointed at the Doctor.

He held up his hands at her.

"But it was...perfect." She waved her hand around. "Yeah, yeah. Monsters. Near death." She then leaned forward to him. "You ever been so in love you don't...I mean, it doesn't matter what you do just so long as you're together?"

The Doctor frowned at her.

Rose frowned back. "You're frowning. So, no?"

"He didn't put a stop to this crush?"

"Crush?!" Rose smacked the table with her hand. "As if. I love him...and he loves me. Would have said it too if not for the stupid supernova or whatever the hell it was."

"I don't believe you."

"Listen, you!" She reached over and shoved his shoulder. "I'd still be with him if it wasn't for the void and dad...Pete...dad catching me at the last second. Hold on...how'd he do that?" She thought for a moment and then laughed. "It doesn't make sense!"

"You're not making sense."

"Shhh. I'm mad at you." Rose played with the empty glass in front of her. "Why aren't you him? Oh, I know!" She smiled at the Doctor and sighed. "You could pretend to be him and then everything would be happy! And we could not go to concerts and you could tell me about your kids..."

"He told you he had kids?" the Doctor interrupted her. His expression had changed but Rose was having trouble deciphering it at the moment. It seemed like surprise, but maybe something else.

"Yup. Once upon a time. Well, he said he'd been a dad so it could have been one kid, I suppose. He also has a weird thing for those little metal balls on fairy cakes."

"Right."

"Oh, and then we could...oh, wait. I already said about not going to concerts." Rose set the glass upside down. "I miss his arms around me," she said to the glass.

The Doctor cleared his throat.

She looked up at him. "So what d'ya say? Wanna substitute for the Doctor? It'd be so nice."

He stood up, the chair legs scraping against the floor. "Time to go." He threw some coins on the table.

"Damn."

She obviously hadn't been moving fast enough or maybe at all, because suddenly she felt the Doctor pulling her up onto her feet. "Bye bye, James Darren!" she called out as he dragged her out into the street.

The TARDIS seemed far. Really far. Had it been this far? Maybe it moved.

She stopped walking. "I'm gonna sleep now," she said, closing her eyes.

The Doctor muttered something she couldn't make out and then grabbed her around the waist, pushing her forward towards the TARDIS.

Rose heard the key in the lock and then the creak of the door twice, first opening and then closing. She opened her eyes to the console room.

"Home again." She smiled up at the Doctor and then wrapped her arms around him, leaning her head against his shoulder. He may not have been what she was used to any more, but he still felt good. Everything felt good. And everything was feeling heavy. It would be so nice to just lay down now.

She felt herself starting to slip down. Suddenly she was being lifted up and then there was movement. Maybe the TARDIS was moving again. The TARDIS was sneaky like that. Didn't really matter though, since she still had her arms around the Doctor. That's pretty much all that mattered.

Rose was only vaguely aware of being dumped on her bed before blacking out.

*

The Doctor sprinted through the dim, wet streets, dodging food vendors and people milling around their carts. Stupid stereotypical bad guys with their stupid hidden escape panels. Clichés should not be allowed in real life. It was annoying.

The Doctor ran around a corner and into a woman carrying a box full of puka shells, sending the contents flying. "Sorry! I'm sorry!" he yelled over his shoulder. He didn't slow down and her curses followed him.

The man couldn't have gotten far, and with the bright green shirt that matched the green hair, he should be easy to spot. Down another street, and there! The Doctor grabbed the person by the shoulder. A shocked face turned to him, but it was one of a human instead of a Drulian, the only real difference between the two being the deep ridges around the eyes.

"Watch it, mate!"

The Doctor let go. "Sorry. Thought you were someone else."

His eyes swept over the crowd - thank god for height - but the overabundance of neon wasn't helping, casting everyone in a purplish glow.

Nothing.

He continued on his original course and picked a side street at random. He had just passed an alleyway, but movement caught his attention. He grabbed a lamp post to help him brake and jogged back to the alley.

He grinned.

Farden Langith-Ber Trayan. Black-marketeer and, surprisingly enough, Parliamentarian. Infamous throughout the Yat Galaxy. And currently pinned to the wall by one Martha Jones.

Damn, that woman was good.

"Now see," the Doctor said as he strolled up to them, putting his hands in his pockets, "...this was inevitable. Why do people always insist on doing it the hard way? Here I offer to get you a few cases of Poyll Whiskey for some simple information and what do you do? You run. Now that's not very nice."

Farden tried to spit at him.

"Don't think so." Martha pushed him harder against the wall, hand around his neck.

"But now I'm going to have to skip the whiskey and go straight to the threat. Well, not really a threat since I will actually do it."

"What, you gonna kill me?" Farden sneered.

"Oh no. Killing's no fun." The Doctor smiled and moved to mere inches away from Farden's face. "You like your little life? How you've grown fat and rich off of your black market empire? The houses, the transports, the women? I am going to destroy that."

Farden's eyes flicked back and forth between the Doctor and Martha as if trying to decide which was the greater threat. He dropped his gaze. "You're as bad as Time Agents, you know that?" he muttered.

The Doctor frowned. "Time Agents? What'd they want with you?"

"Thought I had some not-of-this-century hyperdrive. Didn't find what they were looking for." Farden smirked.

"This is getting us nowhere," Martha declared, fingers tightening.

"Fine," Farden choked out. "Traedan's Sphere? Never heard of it."

"Think he's telling the truth?" Martha asked, glancing at the Doctor.

Farden shrugged, as much as he could shrug while being held against a wall. "You won't tell me what it is or even what it looks like, so something called Traedan's Sphere? It's never crossed my path. Why did you think I had it?"

The Doctor sighed. "Trayan. Traedan."

"What, my name sounds like it? That's it? You have no idea what this thing is yourselves, do you?"

The Doctor turned and began walking out of the alleyway. "Come on, Martha."

He heard a grunt from behind him and then Martha appeared at his side. "You sure?"

"It was a long shot to begin with. They're _all_ long shots," he said flatly.

"You're not giving up, are you?"

"After only four tries? Hardly, Martha. Plus our slimy green friend did help me."

"How exactly did he do that?" she asked, matching his stride.

"Oh, he made me think of something. It may be another nothing, but its marginally better than randomly hopping around time and space, checking off one of the thousands of things that sound like Traedan."

"What's that, then?"

"We're going to see Jack Harkness."

*

Hell.

Rose lifted her head off her pillow and flopped her legs off the bed. She looked down. The least he could have done was to take off her shoes.

Even the muted lighting in the TARDIS was too harsh as she made her way to the galley. Food would be lovely right about now. Some eggs maybe. However, when she got there the thought of a quick nap sounded more appealing. She sat down at the table, putting her head down on her arms.

She heard the Doctor come into the room and she groaned a greeting. Next she heard him doing something off to the side. Loudly. Damn him. And then something hit the table with a bang.

Rose's head snapped up and she focused on the most disgusting and beautiful sight in the universe. "Oh, thank god. The cure." She grabbed the glass and choked down the contents. She'd had the Doctor's hangover cure twice before, both times when Jack was around, come to think of it. He'd told her it was best she didn't know what was in it, but it worked. "Thanks."

"I'm not him. Not as far as you're concerned."

Rose set down the glass and looked up at him. His arms were crossed over his chest and he was staring at her, doing a good impression of a deer in the headlights.

"I'll never be him."

"I..."

"This..." The Doctor waved his hand between them. "...will never happen."

"What?"

"I'm not a substitution."

Rose's words from the night before came flooding back. "Oh, god," she groaned.

"And she remembers."

"I'm sorry. God, I'm sorry."

"I think you need to leave," he said, and walked out the door.

No. Rose nearly knocked over the chair as she went after him.

She caught up to him as he strode down the corridor. "I shouldn't have said that. It was wrong. So wrong. But couldn't we just start over? No pretending, no complications."

"You are complication incarnate."

"I should have told you...something," Rose said as they entered the console room.

"Yes. You should have," he said, hopping up onto the platform and moving to the console. He turned a knob.

"Stop. Please!" Rose begged, putting her hands on top of his.

He hesitated for a moment and then his shoulders slumped slightly. Rose let go only when he backed away from the console.

He sat down in the chair, crossing his arms. "Tell me something. Does your mum beat you?"

"What?!"

"That friend of yours then?"

"No! What the hell...?"

"Just trying to figure out why you need to run away so badly. Most people would be thanking their lucky stars to have family and friends when they wind up in another universe."

"I'm not running away!"

"What then? You've got a life out there! Family and friends out there!"

Rose shoved her hands into her pockets, suddenly finding his shoes interesting.

"You _know_ I'm not the person you're looking for. Why are you here?"

Her fingers found the unused notes - the ones that had been meant for the shampoo for her holiday. She closed her eyes.

"It wasn't just about him," she said softly. "Well, it was and it wasn't. It was all of this," she said, looking around the room. "The travelling to other places. New people. New ideas. It was more than an ordinary life."

"Sometimes an ordinary life is one that matters most, you know." His face, as well as his tone, had softened, but was still insistent.

"Not for me. And I don't care if that sounds selfish, or seems like I think I'm more important than just plain old Rose Tyler," she said, thinking of Mickey and her mum staring at her in that restaurant so long ago, back when the Doctor had sent her away from the game station. "It's my life and I get a little say in it."

"No, it's my life and you want to hang out in it."

"Look," she tried. "Now you know about me and him."

He grunted as the glazed look returned.

"Disapproval. Right. Fine. And you told me that would never happen between us." She held up her hand to stop another grunt. "Also fine. So now that we have that out of the way, can't we just get on with it? The Doctor and his assistant?"

He shook his head. "Don't think you can handle it."

"Okay. But if I have a problem it's my problem."

The Doctor frowned. "Right. Until you get drunk and try and set me up in your little world."

"Think I'm swearing off drinking," she sighed. "You'd never hear another thing about it. Really."

The Doctor stared at the console.

She tapped the chair with her fingers. "I'm _really_ good robot bait," she tried.

He continued to stare.

"Need someone to draw away laser fire? I'm your girl."

The Doctor's expression changed to one Rose recognized - she'd worn him down. Relief flooded her and she decided at that moment she really was going to swear off drinking.

"Keep it to yourself?" he asked.

"Yes," she quickly replied.

He pointed at her. "I'm not your walking therapy session."

"Absolutely not."

*

The TARDIS had felt the need to poke around in Farden's encrypted data files, which the Doctor was only too happy to forward on to the authorities. Enjoying the brief moment of pleasure at the thought of the look on Farden's face when he realized his corrupt days were over, the Doctor set the coordinates for their next destination - to see a man who made his living conning his way through time and space, and hopefully a man who had heard of Traedan's Sphere while doing just that.

"We're really going to see Jack?" Martha had caught the tail end of a conversation during the brief reunion with Jack, but it had been enough. The Doctor had run across him in the late 21st century when they were both investigating a crashed space ship in the Baltic Sea. Turned out Jack had conned his way onto a Time Agent's ship after he had spent about six months in the year 200,100. He had tried to go looking for the Doctor and Rose, figuring that Rose's home would be a good place to start. But after a little domestic squabble, Jack had been dumped in the later part of the century instead of the earlier. He and Torchwood found each other and he had been working for them for about two years.

After the initial shock and actual belief that the Doctor was really the Doctor in spite of the new face, Jack was more than a little irked at having been abandoned. And when he found out about Rose and the parallel world, he blamed the Doctor for that as well. But mostly it was about being abandoned. Martha had heard the shouted suggestion involving the Doctor and the horse he rode in on, and they parted ways.

"Yup." He flipped a switch. "Should be a hell of a time."

Jack was easy enough to track down since he'd never pass up an opportunity to say, 'I'm in the book.' Soon the Doctor was knocking on the door to a posh high-rise flat. Apparently Torchwood paid well.

The door opened and Jack's face instantly hardened.

"Ooh, clothed, I see. That's a good sign," the Doctor greeted.

The door started to close on him, but the Doctor slapped up his hand, stopping it. "Jack, I need your help."

Jack nodded over the Doctor's shoulder to Martha. "Still with him, I see. It was 'Martha,' right?"

"Yeah," came her uncomfortable reply.

Jack let go of the door and walked down the hallway into the kitchen, the Doctor and Martha following. "Watch out for him, Martha," Jack called over his shoulder. He pulled a beer out of the fridge, hitting the top of the bottle on the edge of the counter. "You want one?" he asked her.

"Thanks. No," she said.

"What makes you think I would help you?" Jack asked the Doctor before taking a drink.

"I'm trying to get to Rose."

"Going back for Rose," Jack said slowly.

"Yes." The Doctor knew where this was headed and god help him, it was probably better to let Jack get it out.

"Okay, I'm not going to even pretend I rank up there with Rose in your mind. I caught that subtle distinction the second I stepped foot on the TARDIS."

The Doctor waited for the question he knew was coming. The one Jack had been too angry to ask on their last encounter.

"But _why_?"

"I was going to regenerate. I barely had time to get Rose on board. And then it all went bad."

"That covers the leaving. Now how about the not coming back? I mean, had I done something to offend you? Been incompetent on some expedition?" Jack's fingers gripped the bottle. "Not stood by your side when you were ready to burn down the universe over Rose?!" The bottle hit the counter, some foam escaping out the top.

"Jack, you didn't need me. You never needed me."

"Need you? What the _hell_ does that have to do with anything? I have to need you? Oh, I understand. You're so far above us - the supreme being, come down to Earth to save us all," he said waving his hands in the air. "But look out if you don't need saving, 'cause he'll just leave you on a game station."

The Doctor stared at the abandoned bottle. His patience was wearing thin and his anger rising. He did not need to defend himself over this.

"So is that what it was with Rose?" Jack asked. "You kept her around 'cause she needed you? Or was it that you needed her? Are you gonna tell me that all boiled down to something so crude?"

The Doctor's eyes snapped up to Jack's. "No."

Jack matched his gaze. "Then don't give me that 'need' shit. I thought you were a friend."

He had no clue. Not a damn clue. But Jack's words cut into him more than they had a right to, and the Doctor resented it.

"Apparently not," Jack said after the Doctor didn't respond.

"People come and go. I don't have the luxury of keeping friends." Letting Jack get it out of his system was one thing. This was starting to turn into another. The Doctor walked out of the kitchen and into the lounge.

Jack followed close behind. "Kinda thinking that's of your own choosing. You wanna be the lone wolf? Fine. But you don't get to use the choice as an excuse."

The Doctor turned on his heels. "You have _no_ idea what it's like watching people you...care about die or leave you," the Doctor said bitterly. "Over and over and over again. That right there is my life."

"I'm not even going to ask why you're going after Rose then. I know. You can't help yourself. But the rest? How many people have wound up on a game station? So, hurt others before they hurt unto you? Always protect yourself from the pain? Some life."

"You done yet?" the Doctor asked, warning in his tone. He was _not_ going to discuss this any further with Jack.

Jack stared at him for a moment and then sighed, walking towards the window and looking out to the city. "Fine. What do you need?"

As the Doctor put his hands in his pockets, he glanced at Martha, who had been watching their little scene. It wouldn't surprise him in the least if she'd soon ask to be dropped off at the nearest spaceport. Hell, even he thought it was too much drama and he was in the middle of it all.

"Traedan's Sphere. Don't know what it looks like but I think it will help me get to Rose."

"Traedan's Sphere. And you think it'll get you to a parallel world."

"Yes."

"There's something."

The Doctor closed the gap between them. "Tell me. Jack, please."

"Orb of Raden."

"What is it?"

"Back when I was a Time Agent there were always rumours about this inventor and something called the Orb of Raden. See, his inventions were always a little too good, you know? So we thought he'd gotten his hands on a time travel device. Couldn't ever prove it, though. And after our scientists took apart his inventions, they determined they weren't future tech. Too great a deviation."

"Inventions stolen from other worlds!" For the first time since they had left New Earth, the Doctor began to feel hope.

"Could have been. Parallel worlds weren't really on anyone's radar."

"Name of the inventor. Time. Place," the Doctor demanded.

"Yeah, I got 'em. Funny. You need me. Guess 'need' comes into it after all."

"Jack, I'm making an effort not to throttle you at the moment."

"I'm coming with you."

The Doctor blinked at Jack. "Sorry?"

"You owe me one."

"And this 'one.' It's travelling on the TARDIS?"

"Nope. But travelling on the TARDIS will help me collect when I think of what the 'one' is." Not waiting for a reply, he crossed the room and grabbed his jacket. "Okay, I'm ready."

"You don't need anything else?" Martha asked him.

"Not unless the Doctor threw out all my stuff. And being the pack rat that he is? Not likely," Jack said, ushering them out the door.

The Doctor was now _really_ wishing he had thrown out Jack's stuff, just to knock that smug attitude down a notch. Of course, he hadn't. No one's stuff ever got thrown out. It just wound up in the wardrobe or one of the other storage rooms or sometimes a library, depending on what it was.

"Think it's all balled up somewhere. Under the sink maybe? Needed something to catch a leak."

Jack said nothing. He closed the door behind them and then headed down the corridor. Humour to deflect tension probably hadn't been the best route there.

As the three of them walked silently back to the TARDIS, Jack's words to him tumbled in his mind.

Right, so maybe, _maybe_ he could understand Jack's reaction to it all. But it wasn't as if he'd been around for more than a couple of months. And despite his response, Jack really did not need him.

At the TARDIS, Jack pulled a key out of his pocket and waved it at them. "Still got it," he said, unlocking the door.

Two jackets and a coat were thrown over the railing - the Doctor wondered why he even bothered keeping the coat rack in the room - and Jack finally gave up the information.

"Prescott Daniels. 4287. Montreal, Republic of New Canada, Earth."

Standing in the glow of the console, Jack helped punch in the coordinates to their destination. The Doctor had forgotten how competent Jack had been in flying the TARDIS. Not that he'd ever let him take her for a spin on his own, mind.

Looking at Jack standing there now, the Doctor had the briefest of moments where he half-expected Rose to come bouncing in, ready for an adventure with the three of them. She'd really been the reason Jack had come, and stayed, on board. If it had been up to him, Jack would have been dropped off quicker than he could have said 'innuendo.' But Jack had more than proven his worth and he had stuck with the Doctor through some pretty rough times. And so maybe...?

The Doctor shook his head at the console. He wasn't sure if it was resignation or realization that made him say it.

"Jack," he said quietly, not looking away from the controls. "I'm sorry."

He heard Jack sigh.

"Don't let it happen again." He gave the Doctor's shoulder a pat and then walked out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

Rose knew she was on a bit of thin ice with the Doctor, but she was able to talk him into a quick trip to a clothing store. Sure the wardrobe was full of clean stuff, but she'd be damned if she was going to wear used knickers.

After a shower and some fresh clothes, she was feeling pretty fantastic. She was still on the TARDIS and was determined to stay there. 'Keep it to yourself,' was going to be her new motto. She'd be an able aide. Brilliant buddy. Competent companion.

She stopped at the Ds.

Back in the console room, Rose nearly crashed into the Doctor who had come to an abrupt stop upon opening the TARDIS door.

"Right. This isn't Bannet Nine either."

Rose tried to peer over his shoulder. "How d'you know that?"

"For one thing, everything's blue."

Rose stepped out of the TARDIS and sucked in her breath. The landscape was a hundred different shades of blue - the ground, the plants, the sky ranged from muted and almost grey to vivid cobalt and sapphire. It was one of the more stunning sights she had seen.

The Doctor grinned and patted the TARDIS. "She probably feels right at home here."

Rose smiled. "Getting in touch with her blue side?"

"Yeah," he said still smiling. "Come on."

They started down a nearby dirt path, light-blue dirt, towards what looked like a village. Block-shaped buildings, also a light shade of blue, clustered at the end of the trail. Rose could make out people moving around between them. Well, alien-type people. Their faces were bright, almost fluorescent, yellow.

"Nature's funny," the Doctor said.

"Aside from the obvious?"

"Bet there are tons of blue animals around. Good for hiding. But this lot? In their evolutionary scheme of things they wanted to be seen."

"Show-offs."

"More likely, less developed senses. Sorta like humans," he said brightly.

Rose gave him a chuckle.

They were now close enough to the village to hear faint noises of the villagers' daily activity carrying across the rolling landscape. The Doctor had fallen silent, his evolutionary biology lesson apparently done, and Rose found her mind wandering.

Yes, _this_ was why she wanted to stay on the wrong TARDIS in the wrong universe. Wrong though it was, she hated the thought that she almost hadn't seen this place. And she wanted to see it all.

Okay, like the Doctor had said, maybe it was partly about running away.

Maybe it was the air, or maybe it was the perspective that only 10,000 light years distance could give, but Rose thought of something that she had never thought of before.

She frowned. "Got a question for you."

"Shoot."

"You think my mum thinks I'm rejecting her just because I'm choosing a different life? One that's not hers?"

"Oh no. No no no no!" He scowled and wagged a finger at her.

"What?"

"One - I don't know your mother from a tree, and two - family. Domestic. Issues. Keep it to yourself, remember?"

"I'm not talking about _him_ ," she insisted.

The Doctor shook his head and looked up at the sky. "I should start charging! Need your head shrunk? Step right up - the Doctor is in!"

"All right," she sighed. "Didn't realize the rule covered _everything_. Shutting up now."

They were nearing the first building when the Doctor stopped, squinting towards the sun.

"Kids grow up and leave home. It's the natural order of things. Nature being funny again," he said with a faraway look. "We want them to be like us, but doesn't always work that way. For a parent, it hurts like hell."

Rose didn't say anything, hoping he would go on, but he didn't. His expression returned to an amiable mask and he started to walk again.

They had finally caught the attention of the inhabitants. Excited cries greeted them and curious eyes stared at them. They were now close enough to see that in addition to the bright yellow skin, the alien's hair was either blue, green or some shade in between. Their clothes varied in all different colours in slightly different styles of trousers and tunics. They were average human height, but they were much skinnier than any human. Only four fingers per hand too.

The Doctor smiled and waved at them. "Hello! I'm the Doctor and this is Rose. We're travellers from beyond the sea."

Rose grinned; it was one of the Doctor's favoured introductions. 'Travellers from beyond the sea' had a tendency to work more often than not in places like this.

Murmurings came back at them, the Doctor still smiling away. To their right, the group parted and one of the inhabitants stepped forward.

"I am Rone, Council Chairman of the Rin village of Pal," he said, caution in his bright green eyes.

"Greetings, Council Chairman Rone of the Rin village of Pal," the Doctor bubbled back.

"You say you are from across the sea?"

"Yup. Just a couple of wanderers."

Rose gave the man a smile. Or maybe it was a woman. Rose realized that gender differences weren't really apparent in this crowd.

"Are you here for the festival?" Rone asked.

"That's right. Heard loads about your wonderful festival and we just had to check it out for ourselves."

That seemed to please not only Rone, but the surrounding crowd as well. Smiles appeared everywhere. "Then you are welcome. Come." Rone motioned for Rose and the Doctor to follow him into the village. People grabbed their hands as they passed. The overwhelming hospitality was really very moving.

"Fantastic!" the Doctor said enthusiastically. "Looks like a party!"

They both turned to each other at the same second. Rose quickly spoke. "I'm not touching a drop!"

*

They tried the easy route first, locating the address of Prescott Daniels – Jack's suspicious inventor – and walking up to the front door of his mansion. But instead of the inventor, they found an estate sale in progress. Doctor waved around the psychic paper, claiming they were taxmen. They poked around through Prescott's stuff, but nothing remotely world-hopping-sphere-ish turned up.

After a bit of patented Jack Harkness charm, they discovered that the sale hadn't been as a result of Prescott's death, but rather his disappearance. He had a history of going on holiday for long periods of time, so two years had passed before someone got the notion he wasn't coming back. That and the money in his bank account had run dry, slightly irking his two ex-wives.

And so they backtracked two years. When the door to the Prescott's mansion opened, the Doctor once again used the psychic paper to become taxmen. There really were two constants in the universe - death and taxes. They were immediately ushered into a room which was meant to demonstrate the inventor's greatness - pictures with famous people, medals and mock-ups of gadgets lined the walls of the office. It all surrounded a surly-looking man behind the desk.

"You're wasting your time. You need to talk to my accountant," Prescott Daniels said as they entered the room.

"And hello to you too," the Doctor answered. "No one has time for pleasantries any more. It's a shame, really. Pleasantries make the world so...pleasant."

Martha and Jack hung back as the Doctor walked towards the man sitting at his desk.

"Look, I'm a busy man..."

"Well, I'm not," the Doctor said, leaning his hands on the desk. "Actually, you could say I have all the time in the world. And, well, I do. I could stand here for fifty years if I wanted. Oh, the boredom would kick in after about a minute, but there's always singing. I'm rather partial to 'The Sound of Music.' I do a wicked 'Sixteen Going on Seventeen' you know."

Prescott was starting to look at him like he was mad. "You're not taxmen, are you?"

"Nope."

"What do you want? Money? I don't keep it here."

"But, Mr. Daniels, money can't buy me love. Oh, can't believe I just said that." The Doctor shook his head. "No, I want Traedan's Sphere, or the Orb of Raden or whatever little name you're calling it."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"But I think you do. You see, hopping between parallel worlds is something that would stick in a man's mind."

"You're daft."

Fortunately the Doctor caught the subtle movement, nearly obscured by the desk, of Prescott's hand reaching into the pocket of his coat, which hung over his chair. The Doctor lunged over the desk, grabbing the man by the collar, and suddenly everything shifted. He both saw and felt it. He'd experienced this before and _knew_ they'd just jumped to another world.

The shift hadn't slowed his momentum and the Doctor slammed into Prescott, sending them both backwards over the chair. The Doctor's head made contact with the base of a potted plant, which stunned him enough for Prescott to make a break for it.

As the Doctor shook it off, he noted that the room was almost the same - minus Jack and Martha, and plus mock-ups of different gadgets. Apparently in this world, Prescott Daniels was the proud inventor of the warp drive.

The Doctor tore after him out of the room. He'd probably only have seconds before the man would have the common sense to jump back.

From the other end of the long entryway, the Doctor caught sight of him running out the front door and pushed his trainers to the limit, racing through the front door and leaping down the outside steps. Luck was on his side for once as Prescott wasn't in very good shape. The Doctor tackled him on the drive, which sent a brass-coloured orb flying, landing in the nearby grass.

Prescott tried to crawl to the sphere, but the Doctor pinned him to the ground. "Okay, I gotta ask. How in the parallel world do you keep the parallel worlds straight? You've got the same house, same furnishings, even the same plants. Do you change socks every universe or something?"

Prescott grunted at him.

"No need to be rude about it. I was just curious." The Doctor abandoned Prescott and scrambled after the orb.

It was funny, but having now seen it, the sphere looked vaguely familiar.

The Doctor scooped it up and sprinted down the drive. "Sorry, you're going to have to live with one reality's worth of wealth from now on. Ooh, hope there aren't too many ex-wives in this one," the Doctor called over his shoulder.

He doubted Prescott could catch up to him on foot, but there were always transports, and so he didn't stop running until he found a tall hedge that he hid behind.

The Doctor turned the sphere over in his hands. Now he knew where he'd seen something like it before, but he'd need the TARDIS to confirm it. This one was pocket-sized, and had movable graduated rings which made up the sphere. And the rings had markings on them, exactly like the ones from the stone tablets in New Earth and the planet of the Beast. He probably shouldn't have been surprised. He was, however, irked that he couldn't read them.

On opposite sides of the sphere, where the rings ended, were two slightly raised circles. Buttons, maybe? Since the rings were mostly likely settings, he did _not_ want to mess with those at the moment. That left him with the buttons.

"Right. Here we go."

He pushed a button. Nothing.

He tried the other. Nothing again.

Both maybe?

'Please work please work please work,' ran through his mind as he pushed on both sides of the sphere.

The world shifted.

"YES!" He had it - the thing that would get him to Rose! He would have hugged it, but he didn't want to risk activating it again. But he needed to hug _something_. A ginger cat sauntered by, twitching its tail.

Oh, what the hell.

However, the cat was apparently not pleased to see a tall, grinning man bounding towards it. It hissed at him and shot off.

Right then. Cats were still on his list.

The Doctor made his way back and let himself into the mansion, _really_ hoping that activating the sphere simply brought him back to the right universe, and he'd find Jack and Martha inside. Fortunately he heard their voices from Prescott's former office. Or was that the office of the former Prescott?

"...but we should definitely stay here." Martha's voice carried into the foyer.

"Right. Kinda like the old 'hug a tree' thing...only not, since he knows where we are," Jack responded.

"Wonder how long we should wait?"

"Five and a half hours. At least," the Doctor answered, entering the room.

Martha looked at the sphere in his hand. "You got it!"

"Five minutes. That was easy," Jack said, looking at his watch.

"Oh sure, easy. Never mind the sheer terror at the thought that I could have been stranded in another world. Or hopped back to some other world. Plus, I hit my head," he said, rubbing at it.

Martha and Jack smirked at each other and then passed him, heading outdoors.

"It hurt!" he yelled after them.

*

The festival turned out to be a harvest festival. Every table in sight was covered with food – bowls filled with fruits or vegetables, she wasn't sure which, as well as prepared dishes. Brightly-coloured flags and banners decorated the small village square. The sun had almost set, and torches were lit, surrounding the square in a yellow glow, turning the buildings a soft green. A band started playing some very loud folk-type music and people began to dance. Rose could barely hear over the music and laughter as she was offered different things to eat and drink. She only accepted the drink after a shouted exchange over the music convinced her it wasn't intoxicating. There was no way she was risking a repeat of Mexico.

After being handed a plate of what resembled a piece of pie, Rose found a porch step to sit on. Whatever was in the pie, it was really good - tasting like a cross between oranges and raspberries. She'd lost track of the Doctor about an hour ago and she scanned the crowd as she ate. He wasn't too hard to find, but Rose nearly choked upon finding him in the middle of the dancing throng.

Amused, she watched as the Doctor awkwardly followed the steps of a strange sort of dance with one of the Rin. He caught her gaze and grinned. She laughed back and gave him the thumbs-up sign.

He really was very goofy in this body. Not that he wasn't also goofy in his later body, but it was a different kind of goofy. Well, not _his_ later body. _Her_ Doctor's. Rose watched him do an embarrassing head-bob and wondered if she'd still be around when this one regenerated. Would he then look the same as her Doctor? Was that how that worked?

She finished off the pie, wondering what her Doctor was doing right now. Whatever it was, hopefully it was with someone. Even if it was dancing or...something. Yeah, even that, she decided. She wanted him to be happy.

Would still be nice if he thought about her every once in a while though.

The music paused between songs and Rose heard, "Would you like to dance?"

Rose looked up to a pair of very green eyes. She had no idea if the person was a man or a woman but it really didn't matter. She smiled. "Love to!"

A four-fingered hand pulled her up as the music began again, and soon Rose was dancing the same strange little dance she'd watched the Doctor bumble his way through. Hopefully she looked better doing it than he had.

Every once in a while she would bump into the Doctor or they would wave at each other from across the dancing crowd. She nearly doubled over with laughter at one point when he head-bobbed at her - probably the most powerful being in the universe, and he was a total dork.

They'd been dancing for hours now. The Doctor seemed unstoppable, but Rose had taken breaks every once in a while, where she was offered more food and more drink, most of which she felt she couldn't refuse. After a few more turns with someone in a black tunic, she was feeling very full and danced-out. She waved away her partner with a smile, and made her way back to the porch step.

The Doctor waved, and with a nod and a pat on the shoulder of his partner, joined Rose, flopping down next to her.

"Tired?" he yelled in her ear.

"A little," she yelled back.

"We can go."

"No, you're having fun."

Rose only realized the music had stopped when her voice echoed over the square. Everyone had stopped dancing, and was now staring at her and the Doctor.

The Doctor stood up. "We'd like to thank you for your lovely hospitality, but it's time we headed out."

Disappointed faces looked at them.

Rose pushed herself to her feet, feeling a bit guilty for causing the party to come to a grinding halt. "But your festival was by _far_ the best I've ever been to on this whole entire planet!"

Pleased replaced disappointed.

"Nice," the Doctor said in a low voice.

"Walk them out!" someone shouted.

Cheers rose up from the crowd as torches were grabbed. The band stood up and began to play again, now walking. Apparently they were going to get a processional back to the TARDIS. Rose couldn't help but smile at their odd - but endearing - enthusiasm for two strangers who looked so different from themselves.

Back on the dirt road, they were now surrounded by the Rin who danced as they went. Rose got swept up by her last partner and they hopped merrily down the path in the middle of the crowd.

*

The Doctor and the TARDIS had been examining the sphere for the last thirteen hours. Every once in a while some food or a cup of tea would appear near his elbow. Since he didn't figure he was completely back in Jack's good graces, it must have been Martha.

To say that he had never seen anything like this technology before would be putting it mildly - he had never even conceived of something like it before, and that was saying something. The Beast's words of "before the universe" popped into his head, but he waved it aside. Although...he _had_ seen something like it before, hadn't he? Just not up close and personal; never got to see how it all worked. There was no mistaking it, though - the sphere and the void ship the Daleks had used were the same technology.

He had at least discovered the reason for having to press both buttons – it was a safety feature, requiring the same genetic signature touching each button to activate. That way it couldn't be accidentally switched on, or suddenly disappear if dropped. His main goal was to decipher the characters so that he could use, and control, the sphere. Control being the important thing. Well, and making sure the universes wouldn't crack and implode if he used it. That too.

But the further he got in examining the sphere, the more he kept running into discoveries that he would have loved to ignore. In fact, he tried to ignore them, but kept bumping into the facts.

The TARDIS beeped, flashing a computation on the monitor.

"Yes! Got it!" he yelled. He grabbed the sphere and kissed it. "Oh, don't think you weren't a bit of a challenge, but I got you in the end! And you thought I'd get stuck in the parallel framework model." He wagged a finger at it.

"Hmm. Talking to inanimate objects. Good or bad?" Jack asked, entering the console room.

"Our luck? Probably bad." Martha was right on his heels.

The Doctor grinned at them. "It wasn't made by the Daleks. There's no way it could have been made by the Daleks."

"The sphere?" Jack asked.

"The void ship."

"Okay, you lost me," Martha said, pulling herself onto what the Doctor had come to consider her customary perch on the railing.

Jack leaned next to her. "Me too."

The Doctor waved dismissively at them. "The Daleks must have stumbled across the void ship, who knows where. Or maybe they captured it. Doesn't matter. Sure they figured out how to use it, geniuses and all, but in the crudest way possible. If A plus B equals C, they'll never stop to consider the hundred other variables that can get you to C, much less design something that way. Not even the Cult of Skaro."

"A plus B equals C?" Jack crossed his arms.

The Doctor ignored him, placing the sphere back on the console. "This is the same technology as the void ship, but the void ship and the sphere aren't designed to punch through universes. Well, they can punch through universes, but it would be like crashing through a wall to get inside a house, which is exactly what the Daleks did. Crude!"

He started pacing. "You see, the sphere and void ship weren't designed to explore the _void_ , they were designed to explore the _universes_. The void ship to get inside and the sphere to hop between. And if I'm right," he laughed at the madness of it all, "...they were designed by something from the void."

Jack and Martha blinked at him.

"Oh, I know what you're thinking. The void is supposed to have nothing. No light, no sound, no matter, no time, nothing." He shook his head at the sphere. "But either that theory is wrong or life exists beyond known parameters." He raised his eyebrows. "There's something out there."

"That's actually kinda disturbing," Jack said. "Couldn't this being or beings be a threat?"

"Could be, sure. From the design, and an inconceivably brilliant design I might add, this entity could rip apart the universe like that." The Doctor clicked his fingers.

"Not doing anything to make me feel better here, Doctor," Jack said, obviously alarmed.

"Ah, but the universe is still here. Been here for billions of years. And will be here for billions more. I know, I've been there and back. Maybe they're just...visiting," he said, staring at the sphere. "And occasionally dropping off unwanted hell-beasts."

"Lovely," Jack replied.

Martha spoke up. "So...the writings in the cavern. How'd they know about your life? And why write it?"

"Not a clue. For all I know I could meet these beings centuries from now and tell them all myself so that I could find it, well, now." He grinned. "Quite literally a self-fulfilling prophesy. But since one of these things isn't here right now, we can't ask it."

"So, are we supposed to find these void beings?" she asked.

"Find them? God, no. They might want their sphere back. Nope, we're headed to Torchwood!" the Doctor declared as he ran over to the console, flipping a lever.

Martha hopped off the railing and moved to sphere, examining it. "So this little thing will actually get us to another world?"

"It's portable but powerful. The field on this thing could take the TARDIS," the Doctor explained, running back and forth between controls. "Come on! Faster! Yah!"

Jack jumped out of his way when he made another lap around the console. "So zap it and let's go!"

"Can't. The TARDIS won't survive in the other world. She needs to stay here. We can go on foot but since we won't be inside the TARDIS, we'll need to be in physical contact to make sure the field takes us all. Touching on arms _only_ ," he said, pointing at Jack while nimbly dodging around Martha.

Jack smirked. "So when in time do you wanna make your grand re-appearance?"

"It's going to have to be a guess. Well, a really good guess, but still. The universes fell out of sync when the Daleks and Cybermen decided to go storming through. Rose's father, well, not really her father but let's not get into _that_ right now... Anyway, Pete said that three years had passed for them when for us only about six months had gone by, relative time. Time should have stabilized by now, but the trick will be figuring out which times line up. I'm starting at a week after it all happened."

"So we could wind up ten years down the road for them. And Rose could be..."

The Doctor didn't let him finish. "Well, we'll just have to sphere back over here, hop in the TARDIS and try again then, won't we? But let's hope we get it right the first time otherwise I'll have to pretend that I feel some sort of guilt for breaking up a future marriage or something. And I'm bad at faking guilt." He pumped the vortex loop control. "Always comes off as indifference with a slight hint of peckishness for some reason."

"We're actually going to go through in Torchwood?" Martha asked. "Not very smart, is it?"

"Oh, Torchwood loves me. Besides, the only other place I know of is Pete and Jackie's place and I'm _not_ running into Jackie first."

The TARDIS' rotor stopped. The Doctor grabbed the sphere and bolted down the ramp, out into the giant, empty room in Torchwood. Plastic sheets covered doors at the far end, as if the place had been sealed off. Leave it to humans to ignore something frightening, pretending it never happened. It was why their history kept repeating itself.

"Come on! Coming or staying?!" the Doctor shouted back towards the TARDIS. "Come on! Come on! Come _on_!"

Jack and Martha scrambled over to him, grabbing his arms. The Doctor took a deep breath and activated the sphere.

Everything shifted. They were in the same room, but now people scurried around, apparently involved in something important, so much so that no one noticed three new people in the corner of the room. But the Doctor ignored them all when he spotted someone familiar bent over a computer.

"Mickey!"

Mickey turned and his mouth dropped open. "Oh my god."

Pocketing the sphere, the Doctor bounded over to him, grabbing him by the shoulders. "Never thought I'd say this, but am I glad to see you! Where's Rose? No wait. How long since she came here? Or...tell me where Rose is. No, tell me BOTH."

Mickey's mouth opened and closed.

"Yes, yes. You never thought you'd see me again. Snap out of it!" He gave Mickey's shoulders a shake.

"Well, it's been almost a year since that whole thing with the Cybermen and the Daleks," Mickey finally said.

"Okay, a year. That's doable. Probably."

"And Rose..." Mickey looked decidedly uncomfortable, which made the _Doctor_ uncomfortable.

"What?" He gave Mickey another shake for good measure.

"Rose is with the Doctor."

The Doctor dropped his hands from Mickey's shoulders. "Sorry?"

"Yeah, three days ago Jackie gets this call. Turns out Rose ran into the Doctor and so she takes off. Pretty much the same old same old."

"That's impossible."

"Hey, I'm just telling you what Jackie told me."

"But I'm here _now_ ," the Doctor said. "Why would I go back in time to get her earlier? It would only serve to annoy me and I make it a policy never to annoy me."

"Thing is," Mickey said, swallowing hard. "She said it was this universe's Doctor. You know, two Mickeys, two Jackies, two Doctors? Said he looked like the old you."

The Doctor stared at Mickey. It wasn't possible. Time Lords existed outside of dimensions and so there was just no way. None.

But at the end of the war the walls of reality had closed to him and the worlds sealed. Had something else happened? With Gallifrey gone, was he now part of a dimensional existence just like everyone else? And was that why he had survived - instead of destruction had he fractured over realities?

It all seemed mad. Of course, up until a few minutes ago he had thought the void was just a big ball of nothing...

"Right. Three days ago? That's all?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah."

The Doctor reached over the desk, grabbed the phone and began to dial Rose's number. He was not going to think about her problems with alternate versions of people and he most definitely was not going to think about the two of them off on some adventure at the moment.

It rang.

He still wasn't thinking about it.

Voice mail.

Just bloody brilliant.

The Doctor wondered if this was going to show up in the legend. 'And lo, the Lonely God did wait for the tone...'

*

They reached the TARDIS, many of the Rin dancing right past it, apparently determined to escort them to the sea, however far that was. Those clustered right around them, including Rose's dance partner, watched with puzzled expressions as the Doctor and Rose waved and stepped into the TARDIS.

It was only after the TARDIS door was shut that Rose realized her mobile phone was beeping at her. She pulled it out of her jacket pocket as the Doctor headed up towards the console. She stared at the screen.

Six messages.

Mum? The baby? What?

Rose felt the panic rise as she poked at her phone and listened.

 _You have six new messages._   



No. Shit. Rose stabbed at more buttons then held it back to her ear.

 _Yeah, Rose?_   



Rose slumped to the floor at the familiar voice.

 _Here I come all the way to another universe and I find out you're travelling around with someone who is not me. Not that you could resist me in any universe naturally, but, you know, NOT ME. Did I mention the not me part? Just making sure so there's no confusion. Okay, there may be a question of how much of me he actually is... I suppose I didn't really need to tell you all that. Just for your sake, he's not me, all right? So get back here or...I'm taking off._

*BEEP*

 _Okay, I'm not taking off. Well, that is an option but only to circumvent the whole not-me thing. Although I have to say I'm more than a bit curious. Let's just call that Plan B. This is Plan A, by the way. The plan where you get back here._

*BEEP*

 _Right. Sorry. Here. Here's Torchwood._

*BEEP*

 _Time would be helpful. Three days after you left, one in the afternoon._

*BEEP*

 _OH! Have the not-me park in the big, long, former dimension-hole room. More dramatic that way. For the, uh, legend. I'll explain later._

*BEEP*

 _Right. Since nothing has materialized yet, I'm going to assume that not-me is a moron. Really, I'm not sure what kind of Time Lord he thinks he is. I'd watch out for him. I would have been able to do it. Well, probably been able to do it. Maybe. We'll not talk about the leaving for a whole year thing, all right?_

*BEEP*




Her hand shook as she held the phone in front of her. "Take me back."

"Trouble?" the Doctor asked.

"Take me back right now!"

When he just stared at her, she jumped up and gestured at the console. "It's the Doctor! He's here! He's in this universe! Please, you have to take me back! He said three days after we left, one in the afternoon. Level fifty of Torchwood."

"Torchwood?"

"Canary Wharf!"

As the Doctor bent over the controls and started turning knobs, Rose ran back down the ramp and stood by the door, ready to open it the second the TARDIS landed, which was taking _forever_.

After what seemed a lifetime, the TARDIS finally stopped moving and Rose yanked the door open, racing out into a corridor where she glanced at a sign. "Not level fifty!" she yelled, running towards the lift.

"Forty-nine's close enough!" the Doctor shouted back, running behind her.

Rose slapped the lift button as the Doctor caught up to her. "Not fast enough," she said, taking off for the nearby stairway, the Doctor on her heels.

She burst out of the stairwell into a corridor, the large room just ahead. In one of those weird time things that she tried not to think about too hard, she could hear the Doctor, _her_ Doctor, saying, "We'll not talk about the leaving for a whole year thing, all right?" which had been his last message.

She flew into the room, instantly finding him even though his back was to her. "Doctor!"

He barely had time to turn around before Rose crashed into him, jumping into his arms and wrapping her arms around his neck. She both heard and felt him laugh as he swung her completely around before setting her down. His hands moved to her face and then he was kissing her, a kiss she could feel all the way down to her toes. She felt his smile against her lips, and he pulled away, but still held her face in his hands. She placed her hands on top of his, and nearly nose-to-nose now, he looked into her eyes with the biggest smile she had ever seen. "Did you miss me?"

Rose laughed and threw her arms around him again. "Absolutely not!" She was lifted off the ground again to the sound of his laughter, the best sound she had ever heard.

Rose felt herself tearing up in spite of wanting to break out the champagne. She dropped her head on his shoulder, trying to blink away the irksome tears. And then she was sniffling. Dammit. The Doctor held her tighter, moving one hand to the back of her head.

"Can't say as I missed you either," he said softly.

She clutched the back of his coat, afraid that if she let go he would vanish. "Not a dream, right?"

"Nope. Not a dream. Or a projection."

"Good. Hate those. A _lot_." Thankfully having gotten the sniffling under control, she sighed and then smiled, loving the feel of his arms around her again.

"Really?" the Doctor asked.

It took a moment to realize he wasn't talking to her. It was only then that she was even aware of the fact that Mickey was saying things like 'invasion' and 'space slugs' behind her. It figured that the universe, even a parallel one, wouldn't give them a minute before some cosmic shakedown. But hold on...

She let go of the Doctor and spun around, still holding the back of his coat with a hand. "Wait? Really? The slugs?"

The Doctor leaned his head towards her. "Familiar?"

"As I was leaving, some people were talking about a report of slugs. But they thought it was just a pest problem."

Mickey was back to pecking at the computer. "Yeah, it's a pest problem all right. They've been sucking the minerals out of the ground, so not Earth slugs. Not only are plants destroyed, but no more minerals means the ground's destroyed too."

"Sounds like you got a case of Urillites. Oh, nasty little buggers," the Doctor said.

"Oh. Right." That was the other Doctor, who Rose had quite frankly forgotten about. Was it just her, or was he looking sheepish?

"The plasma signature. Meant to take a look at that," he said as he ambled over to them.

Her Doctor was staring at the other incredulously. "You ignored a plasma signature?!"

"Hello!" He waved in Rose's direction. "Fainting blonde distraction!"

"Fainting? Really?"

Rose closed her eyes. "Yeah, thanks. Thanks very much. Never going to live that one down."

"Here I come out of the TARDIS, all set to check out this strange little signature, when I run into her and she decides to hit the ground."

"Great. Just keep going," Rose said dryly, giving him a glare which only made the other Doctor smirk at her.

"Should I tell him about the tequila?"

"Tequila?" Her Doctor was now raising an eyebrow at her.

"SPACE SLUGS," Rose yelled, clapping her hands. "Let's focus, people!"


	4. Chapter 4

"Right. We can get there faster in the TARDIS," the other him said, vanishing out the door.

If the Doctor knew himself, and he thought he did, the quick reaction was most likely an effort to distract everyone from the fact that he had just screwed up. But in any case, he was pretty sure he'd just been given an invitation onto another TARDIS.

"Oh, this should be interesting." He held out his hand and Rose grabbed it, grinning.

"Interesting doesn't even begin to describe it."

They were followed by an ever-growing group which now included Jake. Jake had appeared from somewhere, or maybe he had been in the room the whole time. He hadn't exactly been Jake-focused for the last few minutes.

The Doctor's suspicions increased as he saw not only the exterior but the interior of the TARDIS that belonged to the alternate him. It was looking more and more like he had fractured across realities, and the TARDIS with him.

Once inside, Rose dropped his hand.

"Jack! Oh my god!" Rose flung her arms around Jack.

"Wondered when you'd get around to me," he said, patting her back.

"When did this happen?" she asked, pulling out of the hug.

"Just recently. The Doctor decided he couldn't live without me and who could blame him?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You know me too well. Every day, pining away for you," he said as he started slowly walking around the console - the exact same console down to the tiniest detail. Well, he currently had a post-it on the monitor, but other than that...

The human herd was in the middle of introductions and discussion about the sphere, but the Doctor ignored them.

He wasn't sure what it meant to have himself spread over dimensions, or if it had to mean anything. He'd probably never know how many of him there were, either. Could have just been the two of them or one for every conceivable reality. Who knew exactly _what_ had happened at the end of the war? One thing he was fairly certain of was that his reality was the one he had spent time in before the war. Meeting Sarah Jane again had confirmed that.

"It's the same, isn't it?" the other him said, looking down at the controls.

"Yes," he answered. Of course he had also worked it out. He was him.

"What's the same?" Rose asked, moving between the two of them. "The TARDIS? Well, yeah. Parallel world and all."

He and his other self looked at each other.

"Right?" she asked.

The Doctor sucked in his breath. "Oh, it's a bit more complicated and probably a story for another time."

An odd thought popped into his head as Rose looked back and forth between the two of them. Back when he regenerated, she had told him she wanted him to change back. But that was just because of the shock, right? She was long past accepting that he was, well, him no matter what he looked like, wasn't she? And him him. Not the other him. Yes, long past that.

Although he thought he had a pretty good idea of what could have happened if he hadn't found the sphere...

Right then.

The Doctor grabbed her waist and moved her to his other side, deciding that the monitor she had stood next to needed his attention. Yes, the landing coordinates being displayed were very important. Very. That was his story and he was sticking to it.

"Don't mean to be breaking up your little threesome over there..." Jack said.

"Oi! Leave me out of it!" the other Doctor protested.

"...but anyone have a plan?"

"Don't suppose we can talk to them," Rose said.

"And when was the last time you talked to a slug?" the other him asked.

Jake spoke up. "Can't we just throw salt on them?"

"Close. And by 'close,' I mean not really. At all," the Doctor said, shaking his head.

The other him crossed his arms and looked at the Doctor. "What do you think? A bit of Trifoljate?"

"Got enough environmental suits?"

"No."

"Chasine?"

The other him shook his head. "Don't have any."

"Ooh, I'm not sure I want to know what you did with the litre of Chasine that was in Storage Two."

"Right. Got it. Gram Oil. Toxic only to Urillites, plants on Chylsius Six and Cane Toads."

"Of course! I should have thought of that! Well, I did, apparently." The Doctor grinned.

In no time canisters of a Gram Oil solution were thrown together and distributed to the group.

"Just spray everything," the Doctor instructed as they exited the TARDIS. They'd landed at the edge of a small village, open grassy fields before them. He scanned the horizon. "Grey, moving ground in that direction," he said, pointing.

Martha passed him. "This is gonna be disgusting, isn't it?"

"Put it this way. I'm not cleaning it up."

"Need a better qualifier there, Doc."

Rose glanced behind her at the other Doctor as they all trudged up the grassy slope towards the slugs. "Guess this explains why you landed near my house."

"Yup."

"Plasma signature. That's it."

"Right," the other Doctor said.

Rose appeared disappointed, and the Doctor wasn't quite sure what to make of it. "Expecting something else?" he asked her.

She hesitated. "No. It's stupid."

Was she hoping the meeting had been some kind of fate? Or destiny? He really didn't see how it mattered. But he left contemplating the confusing aspects of Rose Tyler's mind for another time as they approached the edge of the swarm.

The Urillites blanketed the ground, covering an area about the size of a football field. Behind the swarm was a wide path of bare dirt, plants and grass stripped away. The Doctor had seen them wipe out whole planets before. They wouldn't stop eating until everything was gone. White vans were parked nearby, and a few people got out and ran towards them.

"Torchwood surveillance team," Mickey commented to the group. "How'd these things get here?" he asked, once the Torchwood people joined them.

"Meteorite." the other Doctor replied. "Part of their life cycle. It crashes into a planet, releases microscopic baby slugs, slugs grow up, chow down, have a big slug orgy and then send off meteors to other planets to start again. The whole process can take a thousand years."

"It wouldn't by any chance be an orange meteorite? That hums?" Rose asked.

"Bingo," he said, and one of the Torchwood people flipped open his mobile phone and ran off.

"There's one." Martha sprayed a slug that had strayed from the swarm.

Everyone watched as the slug stopped moving. "Okay, I thought they'd do something nasty, like dissolve," Jack said.

The Doctor shook his head. "Not really slugs and not salt, remember?"

The group spread out around the slugs, spraying as they went. Soon he, Mickey and Jake were in the middle of the slugs, making sure the ones on the inside were sprayed as well.

"Behind you, boss!" Mickey yelled, a smirk on his face.

The Doctor whipped around. "Gotcha!" he shouted as he sprayed the slowly charging slug. "Thanks! Almost got my shoe dirty there."

"Hey, I've got your back," Mickey said, still smirking.

"Think I played a video game of this once," Jake called to them, spraying a patch near his feet.

"Could you actually die in the game?" Mickey asked.

"Yeah, if you let them suck your face off."

The Doctor snorted. "Gotta love science fiction."

The Doctor headed towards an unsprayed patch, stepping in between the slugs. Mickey and Jake followed, but weren't as successful in keeping their shoes slug-free.

"God, that's disgusting!" Mickey said after having stepped on yet another slug.

"Never mind the shoes, boys." The Doctor glanced at their feet. "All right, no. That is disgusting. No ignoring that. But you can clean them off when we're done."

"I'm burning mine," Jake muttered.

The spraying continued until the entire area was covered with Gram Oil. Satisfied that they'd gotten them all, they made their way to where the others were gathering, Jake and Mickey rubbing their shoes against the grass. The Doctor tossed his canister to one of the Torchwood people. "In case any show up again," he told them.

More canisters were quickly dumped at the Torchwood people's feet as the group began to follow the other Doctor back to the TARDIS.

Jack slapped one of the Torchwood people on the back. "Looks like you're gonna need a shovel," Jack said before joining the group, leaving behind the queasy-looking man.

The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand and she smiled up at him. He gave her a small one in return.

"What?" she asked.

He nodded in the direction of the other him. "Give me a minute with him, all right?"

"Oh, yeah. Sure. Absolutely." She let go of his hand and began herding people to a grassy area near the TARDIS.

*

Rose kept her eyes on the two Doctors, both with arms crossed and deep in conversation. They were talking about who knew what, and Rose half-expected to see some sort of Time Lord secret handshake any minute. It was odd, to say the least, seeing the two of them together. Mind-blowingly odd.

"So I guess I'd better pack my bags," Martha said.

Wait, what? That had gotten Rose's attention. Jack and Mickey were giving Martha sympathetic nods. "You're leaving?" she asked.

"Oh, please, Rose." Mickey crossed his arms over his chest. "Anyone else on that TARDIS won't exist."

"It's not that bad," Rose protested.

"Ha!" Jack retorted. "You know, the first time I stepped on the TARDIS these two were in the middle of playing dancing duo. I mean, literally. Glenn Miller and everything."

Mickey jumped in. "Try having to hold a button for thirty minutes while they're in the middle of a trip down memory lane!"

"Get out! Although thirty minutes is nothing compared to being left on a planet for a month while they went off and had fun."

"A month? That's cold. But how about being compared to a pet horse? That's a real boost for the ego right there," Mickey smirked.

"I can trump it all." Jack grabbed Mickey's shoulder. "Left on a game station. For good."

"Oh man. That's not right."

They were laughing now, Jake and Martha chuckling as Mickey and Jack continued with yet more stories. At least they were laughing, though it sounded pretty harsh to Rose in hindsight.

Rose glanced at Martha. There was nothing she would like better than to pick up where she and the Doctor left off - just the two of them running around the universe. But now there was not only Jack, but Martha to consider. And she was just what Rose had hoped for - someone to keep the Doctor from being lonely.

"All right," Rose said, interrupting their discussion. "Why don't you guys head up to the house? Jake and Mickey know where it is."

"See?" Jack said, smirking. "Getting rid of us again."

Rose gave him a playful shove as he started walking towards the road with the others. "Tell mum we'll be there in a bit."

The two Doctors were still talking. Rose slowly approached them, wondering if she should give them more time. After all, it was kinda like discovering a twin, right? And two actual Time Lords, when they both thought they were the last, had to be pretty amazing. She felt nosy and tried to hear what they were talking about, but they stopped talking when she came within earshot.

She stopped walking. "I can come back." She pointed over her shoulder.

"Nah," her Doctor said, smiling at her. "We were just talking about cricket."

Well, that was obvious code for 'secret Time Lord stuff.' She closed the distance between herself and them, looking back and forth between the two. Yep, mind-blowing.

She grinned at them both and the Doctor, _her_ Doctor was starting to look a bit on the nervous side. Supposed she deserved that - she didn't have the best record when it came to parallel versions of people.

"Right then. I'll be off," the other one announced. Rose mentally filled in, 'Unless, I don't know, you could come with me.'

No, that Doctor was to her left. Okay, maybe he was right to be nervous.

She looked at the other one whose eyes were sadder than she ever remembered her Doctor's. She wanted to tell this one that he'd cut himself off, and that he should find someone or someones. But with her Doctor standing right there, and their conversation on the beach flooding back in her mind, the words caught in her throat.

Instead she surprised him by giving him a hug. "Don't be alone," she whispered. She felt him tense. Rose cleared her throat. "Thank you. For everything," she said, no longer in a whisper.

He cautiously patted her on the back. "I'll send you the bill, Rose Tyler."

Rose laughed and let go, only to have her Doctor grab her hand.

The other Doctor glanced at their hands and shook his head. "Suppose I should say something profound right now," he said as he opened the TARDIS door.

"If you must," her Doctor replied.

He paused for a moment. "Right. Got nothing. Bye, then!" he said brightly, waving to them before closing the door behind him.

*

"Well, that was surreal," the Doctor said after the sound of the TARDIS faded away. "I mean, it's not often you watch the TARDIS take off without you. And of course running into me is always interesting. Sometimes downright annoying. Did I ever tell you about the time..."

The next words were knocked out of him as Rose threw her arms around him, laughing. "I just can't believe that you're here!"

"Me either." A broad smile broke out over his face as he hugged her tight. "So, don't suppose you're up for knocking around time and space in some parallel universe."

She stepped back gave him a serious look. "I don't know. You get the toaster fixed yet?"

He winced. "Ooh, sorry. It still might be on the twitchy side."

"Describe twitchy." Rose grinned at him to which he grinned back.

"Flaming projectiles?"

"That's twitchy."

"Just a bit."

"Keeps things interesting though, yeah?"

"Oh yeah." He bumped her with his shoulder. God, he had missed this. "Say, where is everyone?" he asked.

"Headed to the house. It's just a little over a mile. Come on." She grabbed his hand and pulled him in the direction of a road.

"So you're still living with Jackie and company then? Oh, that reminds me! What did Jackie end up having? Boy or a girl?"

"A boy. Peter Allen Tyler, Jr."

"Good for them," he said as they walked along the road, hand in hand.

He had the nagging feeling that he needed to tell her what he'd found out. Well, he _absolutely_ needed to tell her, but was having a hard time deciding when the best time would be. The sooner the better, obviously, but this was all so nice. And then it wouldn't be.

"So this thing you have, it can go between worlds without destroying them?"

He took the sphere out of his pocket and held it up, Rose peering at it. "Yup. Same technology as the void ship, only I know how to use it properly." She reached for the sphere. "AH!" He pocketed it again and gave the hand he was holding a shake. "No touching! Just our luck and you'd push the one thing that would make us wind up in some world where cats rule. And of course we'd lose the sphere in some dramatic way, which would result in an overly-long search where I'd finally have to battle to the death for it."

Rose was laughing now, which just egged him on. "But by then you would have rallied the dog underground movement which would interrupt the battle to the death. Cats overthrown and dogs so grateful that we're given back the sphere. And quite frankly, that sounds like too much work."

Rose dissolved into a fit of giggles, which he would have enjoyed had he not been pretty sure he was stalling.

"Okay, what's with the blue suit? Did you wreck the brown one?" she asked, pushing open his coat with her free hand.

The Doctor looked down. It had become such a part of him he barely gave it notice any more. He'd abandoned his brown pinstripe shortly after Torchwood and adopted a blue one. It was something he needed to do, something he _could_ do when surrounded by everything he couldn't - blue was one of the traditional colours of mourning. He looked at the reason for the suit. "Oh, just wanted a change."

She wrinkled her nose at him. "Sorry, but no. I just don't like it."

"Me either. You could say it doesn't _suit_ me." He grinned at her.

"Can't believe you said that," she groaned. "Can you change back?"

"Ooh, maybe I'll try something completely new."

"Well, only if I get some sort of approval rights because you obviously need a lot of help." Rose gestured at the suit.

"Sounds good." He squeezed her hand and she smiled up at him. Yes, he'd definitely need something new.

The conversation had stopped and he almost started in with something, but Rose spoke first.

"So Martha seems nice," Rose said, staring at the road.

The Doctor glanced at her and smirked. Where before her jealousy would often confuse him, now he felt the tiniest bit gratified. Although he quickly pushed that aside, trying to figure out how to respond. He needed her to see that Martha was no threat to her, but also to know that Martha was staying on the TARDIS. On that he would not budge. He just needed the right words.

He opened his mouth, but Rose was quicker. "She's sticking around, yeah?"

His mouth snapped shut. Was that a question or a statement? "Well..."

"I think she should stay."

"Right! Brilliant! Of course she's staying! She's quite handy when it comes to dismantling weapons systems, you know. And she's working on her medical degree, so useful for handing out aspirin. Although she does have a serious character flaw involving tea," he said with a conspiratorial air. "And cats," he continued. "Don't think that wasn't hard to overlook."

"Doctor, I'm starting to think you need therapy about the cat thing."

"What, so I can have Freud tell me it all relates to my mother? No ta." He was stalling again and they were nearing the house they had walked to so long ago, the night of the other Jackie's birthday party. He had to tell her before they got there. And then he'd just have to keep telling himself that she'd wanted to be with him long before knowing that her choice was pretty much taken away.

He'd asked her once how long she was going to stay with him, a question he'd pretty much regretted the second it left his mouth. He swore time had stopped as he waited for her to respond, afraid of what she would say...or wouldn't say. But she answered with one word. Just one.

 _Forever._


He hoped she'd meant it. "Rose." He stopped walking.

"Yeah?"

She'd said 'forever' before this. She'd said she loved him before this. Before she knew a thing, she had said all that.

"In finding a way to this world, I also discovered something. Something about you."

She shifted her feet. "Not sure I like the sound of this. What's this about?"

"Bad Wolf."

*

"Bad Wolf," Rose repeated, her mind racing. What did that have to do with anything?

"When you came back to the game station, when you became the Bad Wolf, the TARDIS did something."

Rose was getting uncomfortable. "Well, yeah. Time Vortex running through my head and all."

The Doctor glanced up for a moment before looking back at her - his darkened expression cut into her. "It changed you."

"What do you mean?" Rose was trying not to panic, but she couldn't help but remember hearing what the Doctor had said when the time vortex had been in her head, about how it would kill her. Was she sick? Was that it? Was she dying?

"You remember how the TARDIS changed Blon back into an egg, right? The TARDIS has powers beyond anything in the universe. The impossible doesn't exist for her."

"What are you saying? Doctor, just tell me."

He sighed heavily, his eyes now betraying a sadness. "You're not human any more."

Rose stared at him. The words he was saying weren't making sense. But he said Blon... "Oh god! Am I going to turn into a Raxa... a Slitheen?!" she asked in horror.

"No!" he said, grabbing both her hands. "Gallifreyan, not Slitheen."

"Gallifreyan?"

"I suppose never mentioned the name of my planet, then. Well, there you go."

An instant numbness surrounded her mind. Even her body felt disconnected. "So I'm..." she trailed off.

"Yeah."

"I think I need to..." she pulled a hand away and motioned over her shoulder. She had a vague awareness of the Doctor sitting her down on the grass on the side of the road.

The TARDIS changed her. Didn't even ask. Or did she? Rose tried to remember, but it was all still a bit hazy. She remembered everything that happened after she got back to the game station and came out of the TARDIS, but right after Mickey got the panel open? It was...blurry. She remembered the desperate need to save the Doctor in any way she could. Everything was focused on him. And then she remembered feeling safe. That everything was going to be okay.

Had she said yes to this?

It didn't seem real. Rose stared at her hand, examining her fingers. "I don't feel different," she finally said, glancing at the Doctor.

"No, you won't. Right now you just have a third strand of DNA. It's dormant at the moment. Nothing will happen until you..." Worry was evident in his eyes. "Until you die. That's when it will kick in. Everything will change. Your body, even your brain will change. Every cell rewritten."

Rose had seen it happen to him, but that was to _him_. Weird stuff happened to aliens. But the thought of being in a whole new body, of never seeing the hand in front of her again was chilling. This wasn't something that might happen, this was something that would happen. Her mouth was getting dry and she swallowed against it, which only made her think of new teeth.

The Doctor now had his arm around her. When had that happened?

Rose played with her hands which were stretched out in front of her. She cleared her throat. "Does it hurt?"

"Sometimes it's worse than others."

It wasn't really an answer, but she'd watched him go through it, which was answer enough. Then she remembered something else, her forehead creasing as she continued to stare at her hands. "Two heads? Or no head at all?"

The Doctor softly chuckled as he grabbed her tighter. "Oh, you just never know when a joke is going to come back to bite you on the ass. No, you'll look human."

"Can you choose what you'll look like?"

"Not really. The people around you and circumstances under which it happens can influence what you become, depending on how strong the connection. Never really figured out why that is, though."

Rose looked at the Doctor and it all fell into place. His newest body - he was this way now because of her. Younger, full of energy to match or surpass her own, and good looks that would make her sit up and take notice. Hell, he even had her accent. And whenever she finally did change, she'd probably be influenced by him.

At that moment she decided it was worth it. Worth the disturbing new bodies, because it meant he'd never be alone again. She could handle it, would handle it for the simple fact that she loved him.

Too late she realized she had been tearing up. The Doctor looked at her with alarm and quickly pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he said. "This is all my fault. All of it."

Wait, what? He blamed himself? Oh, that was good. Like he needed more guilt in his life. "Don't seem to remember seeing you hooking a chain to the TARDIS. You were off having fun with the Daleks, if I recall. Nope," she said, shaking her head. "I'm sure you weren't there." She stood up.

He scrambled to his feet after her, shoving his hands in his pockets, the sadness still in his eyes.

"You weren't," she insisted.

The Doctor took a deep breath. "Oh, but I kinda wanted you to stick around." he said at last.

"So?

"The TARDIS figured that out. She knows me. And so when you..." He trailed off, clearing his throat and looking at the ground.

That thought sunk in. A sickening feeling came over Rose. Maybe that's why he came to get her - he felt guilty. Not because cared about her. And now she'd be a burden to him, tagging along forever.

Afraid to ask, but needing to know, she pulled on his arm to free his hand from his pocket, lacing her fingers through his. "Tell me the truth. The honest truth. Would you have come to get me even you hadn't found this out?"

His expression softened. "Oh, yes."

"Then that's all that matters."

*

It both had and hadn't gone how he expected it.

She'd focused on the regeneration, which, in his opinion, was just a minor aspect of it all. But maybe that was because he had done it so many times. There were a lot more questions she should have asked though, because unlike what she had said, there was more that mattered.

She still held onto his hand, but she hadn't said a word since they'd started walking again, and he left her to her thoughts. It was probably better if she went at her own pace, and he wasn't planning on going anywhere. Although... He made a mental note to make an emergency program for her in case anything ever happened to him, giving her the basics and telling her where in the libraries she could find more information.

Now walking on the long driveway to the house, he felt her free hand touch his arm.

"Thank you," Rose said.

"Sorry?"

"Thanks for coming back for me," she said, staring ahead.

He had a feeling he knew where in her thought process she was. It might have finally hit her that in the not too distant future she would have been completely alone.

"Well, you know, you left some shoes behind. Thought you might want them back."

He kicked himself after the words came out. Leave it to his mouth to come up with something glib at a time like this.

But to his relief, Rose blinked away from her thoughts and gave him a small laugh. "Oh yeah. You know me and shoes."

"I do, as a matter of fact. Every day I'd say to myself, 'Rose Tyler is probably missing her shoes.'"

The corners of her lips tugged upwards. "Incredible. It's like you read my mind."

"And so damn the impossible, I knew you needed those shoes!" he said, dramatically waving a hand.

"That's what I like about you. The 'impossible' approach."

"Well, what's life without some challenges? And shoes?"

"Okay, stop with the shoes," Rose said, snickering.

"Ooh, speaking of challenges, I suppose Jackie will be at the house."

Rose gave him a wicked grin and then nudged him. "You are so on your own. Hope you're ready for a snog."

"What did I _ever_ do to deserve that from her? I think I liked it better when she was slapping me. In fact, I know it. Now for that I think I might need therapy."

"Hmm. Wonder what Freud would say to that?"

"I really don't think I want to know."

The door to the house was flung open and the Doctor had a 'No! Bad Jackie!' all ready, but fortunately Jackie just gave him a hug. Maybe the presence of Pete tempered her. They were shuttled inside the house, Jackie babbling on, and soon the Doctor was standing nearly in the same spot where he had told Rose that she couldn't stay in this world, even if she wanted to. Of course, technically she could have. And it wasn't that he had been worried about her never going back to the Powell Estate either - screw the Powell Estate. It was his world he hadn't wanted her to leave.

The Doctor watched as Jackie, still talking about something, pulled Rose towards a side room, shutting the door behind them. Pete shrugged at him and motioned him towards the lounge, where he could hear familiar voices. Four heads turned and greetings were called out as he entered the room where Martha, Jack, Mickey and Jake were sitting, drinks of what looked like soda or water in hand. He didn't much feel like sitting, though, and so began to wander around the room.

The posh surroundings were much more like what he thought Rose deserved. And the stable home as well...

She wanted to be with him.

She _did_. It wasn't just wishful thinking. His mind flickered back to Torchwood and her determined words.

 _I made my choice a long time ago. I'm never going to leave you._


At the time the weight of her words had stunned him. But now, they made him happy. And not just let's-go-to-a-concert happy, but _happy_. It had been so long since he felt like this.

Smiling, he leaned against the wall and watched Jack tell some outlandish - and most likely false - story, but it was making the others laugh. Even Martha was laughing, which was _really_ good to see. Over in the corner Pete was shaking a rattle at his son, half paying attention to the others. The Doctor scratched at the back of his head and headed towards the kitchen.

Frankly, he was still stunned the thing with Pete and Jackie had worked, but apparently all Tylers had alternate version blind spots. Having nearly been on the receiving end of an alternate replacement himself, the Doctor almost regretted suggesting the idea of the two of them to Pete in the first place. But they were a different circumstance. No one would be showing up again for them.

He opened a cupboard, wrinkled his nose and closed the door.

Rose was certainly taking her time. Never used to take this long to say goodbye to Jackie before, although if she had decided to tell Jackie, well, everything, they might be there a while. And he might need to run.

The Doctor pulled open the fridge and frowned, shutting it again.

Maybe he should go start packing up her stuff. Just shove it all in a bag. That way if Jackie did come after him, Rose would have her stuff since he would be sphere-ing them the hell out of there. It was a plan...

He opened the freezer door. "Ooh, ice cream." He yanked off the lid and attacked.

*

Inside Pete's study, the sound of the clock ticked away. Rose's mum had set her down on the sofa. "So I guess you'll be off then," she said, taking a seat next to Rose. "'Course you won't be able to use the phone from over there. Not that you ever used it anyway."

Rose sighed. "We can come back to visit now."

"Yeah, I know. Ten seconds. Where have I heard that before? And you'll still be out there, running about into danger."

She almost told her mum about the...thing. The "thing" seemed like a pretty good word for it at the moment - she was starting to think she imagined the whole conversation with the Doctor. It was just too bizarre.

But something popped into her mind - something she hadn't thought about since it happened. Her mum had made some sort of comment, back when they were both on the TARDIS, about her wandering around on some far-off planet, but also about her not being human any more. Rose thought it had been just her mum's way of telling her that she'd gotten too distant, that she didn't call enough, but had she actually sensed something? Well, that was a conversation for another time.

"I'll be okay, I promise," Rose offered at last.

Her mum shook her head, sadness reflected in her eyes. "Always had a feeling I'd lose you. Even after we came to this world, I still had this nagging feeling, you know? And then when I got your message about the Doctor..." She trailed off.

Rose pushed a piece of hair out of her mum's face. "That wasn't right. I shouldn't have just run off again."

"But that's what you're doing now, Rose," she insisted.

"Mum, look at me. This isn't me running away from you. This is me living my life. And I don't have to worry about you any more because you're not alone. You've got dad and the baby now."

"But you're still going."

"Your life is here. Mine's out there," Rose said earnestly.

She looked unconvinced.

"But no matter where I am or no matter if it's a thousand years from now, you are still my mum," Rose said as she felt the words catching in her throat. "You will always be my mum," she said softly. "Nothing will ever change the fact that Jackie Tyler, who I love, is my mum."

"Oh, sweetheart." She pulled Rose into a hug, putting a hand on her hair.

Rose had an idea. "And now for a little 'having your cake and eating it too.'" Pulling away, she put her hands on her mum's shoulders. "I'm making plans. Definite plans. I'm coming back here every three months."

"Three months?? What happened to ten seconds?"

"Come on, mum. You've got your own life to live. Okay, two months?"

"A week."

"Six weeks?" Rose countered.

"Two."

"Four?"

"Well," her mum sighed. "I suppose one month is better than three."

"Right. I promise that I'll be back every month or less."

"I'll believe that when I see it."

"Really. You'll see."

"And you're staying for at least three days. And if he doesn't like that, the Doctor can bugger-off, he can."

Rose coughed. "Right, then!" She had _no_ idea how that was all going to work. She couldn't picture the Doctor just handing over the world-hopping thing to her nor could she picture him and her mum spending three days in a row together.

But somehow she'd make it happen, no matter what.

"I'd better go pack now," Rose said, standing.

Her mum stood up as well and sighed.

"Really," Rose said, hugging her again. "A month."

Her mum let go of her. "You've got some clothes in the laundry. I'll go get them for you," she said as she left the room.

Rose went over to the desk in the study and searched through the top drawer, pushing aside pens and empty folders. She frowned and closed it, opening the second drawer. Underneath more office supplies, she found what she was looking for. She grabbed the blank notebook and headed up to her room.

She spent the next thirty minutes packing, with her mum flitting in and out of her room, as well as the Doctor poking around in her stuff, talking her ear off and generally hovering. He filled her in on Martha, on some sort of legend, which had the writing from the black hole planet, and on random adventures she had missed out on. Most of the stories started out as, "Oh! And then..." making him sound like a kid just back from a carnival.

His energy was infectious and by the time she was done packing, she was dying to get back to the TARDIS. She obviously wasn't the only one, as the Doctor snatched up her bag as soon as it was closed and practically pushed her out the door.

When her mum announced that she wouldn't be going back to Torchwood to see them off, Rose couldn't help but feel a little hurt. But maybe it was easier to watch Rose drive away rather than vanish in front of her eyes. Rose couldn't really blame her for that.

Yes, she would _absolutely_ be back in under a month and every month after. Rose doubted her mum would ever see her life as a good thing, but she'd make good on this promise. She clutched the notebook.

As goodbyes were said and hugs given, Pete handed over keys to an SUV to Mickey. Rose climbed into the back seat, the Doctor flopping down next to her, the others filling up the rest of the car. She turned and waved out the back window as Mickey started the engine and put it into gear.

Once the house was out of sight, Rose opened up the notebook and wrote the names and dates of three birthdays on the inside cover. A bump in the road jostled her as she then wrote today's date on the first page and underlined it. Below it she wrote:

 _Peter Jr. - 2 months. Coos. Smiles. Is starting to lift his head._

 _Pete - Still taking time off work to be with mum and the baby. Is thinking of taking up golf again. Called him 'Pete' today and he didn't seem to mind._




"Whatcha doing?"

She glanced at the Doctor who was watching her write. "It's so I don't forget what was going on."

He hmm-ed at her.

"And also so I don't forget the date. Because we're coming back here every four weeks. Or less."

"We have to visit once a month?!"

Five sets of eyes were all now on the Doctor, including Mickey's, watching in the rear mirror. Rose tried to suppress a smile. She really should not be so amused at how much her mum messed with his head. She'd break the news about the three days rule later.

She cleared her throat, glancing at the people ahead of her. "Um, time machine?" she said in a low voice.

"Right, well, of course! Naturally that," he said quickly, rubbing a hand through his hair. "Just testing you all," he said to the others. "Eyes up front. Nothing to see here," he waved at them.

Rose bit her lip and continued writing.

 _Mum - Has been asked to be on a charity committee. God help them all. Is already looking at schools for Petey. Poor kid._


She paused, tapping at the paper with the pen.

 _Haven't told her about the thing yet._
*

The Doctor stared at the inside of the lift doors. They were _so_ close to getting back to the TARDIS, and getting Rose back to the right universe, but the only route was by way of the slowest lift in the galaxy. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see lit numbers changing. And then there was the noise, which he had pretty much decided was a primitive form of torture and should be banned.

"I'm going to go mad," he announced to the group.

No one spoke.

"I'm not kidding. Really," he insisted, tapping his fingers against the wall.

"I think it's kinda nice," Martha said.

Everyone looked at her.

"Or not," she muttered.

Rose sighed. "I really don't remember the lift taking this long before."

The Doctor slapped his hand up against the panel which didn't help much. He could still hear it.

"Maybe if you hum something else," Jack suggested.

The number on the panel flicked to forty.

"That's it." The Doctor shoved his hand into his suit, extracted the sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the speaker in the panel that was insulting his ears with an orchestral version of "Dude Looks Like a Lady." The speaker hissed and then gave a satisfying pop, followed by silence. Wonderful silence.

Rose patted his arm. "Better?"

"Very much, thanks," he said with a smile.

The doors finally opened on level fifty and the Doctor led the group towards the large room at the end of the corridor. Rose matched his steps, her arm looped through his. Barring the horrible music, he was pretty much had a constant grin now. Just a few hours ago he'd been without her, and about a week earlier, had no hope of ever seeing her again. Now here she was, like the most natural thing in the world - almost as if she'd never been gone.

Almost.

"So," he said to Rose. "Here's an important thing. We need to figure out where to go first. Ooh! Beatles concert?"

Rose smirked. "Yeah, like that'll ever happen."

"What?" he asked.

"We have yet to make it to a concert."

"I don't know _what_ you're talking about, Rose Tyler," he said, giving her his best innocent look.

"How about Bannet Nine?" she asked.

"Brilliant! Tea! Hold on. How'd you know about Bannet Nine?"

"I spent the last couple of days trying to get there with the same success as the concerts."

"Hmm. Maybe some cosmic force doesn't want us to go to Bannet Nine. Should we risk it?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

Rose answered with a mischievous grin. "Absolutely."

The group made their way to the corner of the room and the Doctor turned to Mickey and Jake. "Well, boys, as always, it's been fun. Maybe see you in a month your time. Might give you a call to help me fend off Jackie."

As Rose was letting go of his arm, most likely to give Mickey a goodbye hug, Mickey spoke up.

"Yeah, was wondering if I could come along. You know, on the TARDIS." His eyes flicked towards Martha. "Not much to do 'round here with the Cybermen gone and all. Aside from space slugs once every millennium," he said, looking back at the Doctor.

Oh, Mickey. Martha? Really? She was certainly attractive, but Mickey didn't know her. Didn't know she'd probably not be ready for something...

"Yeah, me too, if it's all right," Jake quickly added, looking at Mickey.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. This was quickly turning into EastEnders.

"Oh, I am so sticking around now." Jack, Rose's bag over his shoulder, was grinning in the general direction of the woman and two men.

Bloody. Hell. His TARDIS was _not_ a love shack for the dimensionally dispossessed. He was about to tell them as much, probably in far ruder terms, when Rose squeezed on his arm and turned to face her wide smile.

"Could be fun, yeah? The more the merrier?" Rose asked, threading her arm back through his and starting to do that thing with her eyes where...

Son of a bitch.

He half growled, half sighed at the human herd in front of him. Apparently his mantra of 'don't get too attached' had less and less meaning these days.

"Heard you liked travelling with an entourage," Mickey offered.

Martha shoved her hands in her pockets. "And from the looks of it, you've got yourself a small army now, Doc."

He could do worse, that was true. And it would be handy for a while to have two, well, probably three teams, so to speak. None of whom he would have to babysit...

"Okay, fine." The Doctor waved a finger at them. "But the second I hear crying about 'why doesn't he/she/they like me in that way?' I am leaving you _all_ on some moon. Except Rose, of course. Although..." He wrinkled his nose. "Come to think of it, if she said that then I'd have to leave her on the moon too." He patted her hand. "So don't say that, all right?"

Rose stared at him. "What the _hell_ are you going on about?"

"Tell you later." He retrieved the sphere from his pocket. "Off we go then! Everyone link up. Dorothy, the scarecrow, the tin man, the lion and...the dog, apparently. Mickey, you're the dog."

"Hey!"

The Doctor grinned at Rose. "Ooh, I've missed tormenting Mickey."

She tried to suppress a grin of her own, failing miserably. "So rude."

"Right. Everyone set?" A chorus of "Yes!"es echoed from his supposed army, and Rose leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Fantastic," she sighed.

All things considered, it really was. "Couldn't have said it better myself," he said, still with the smile that probably wouldn't leave him for days. He pressed down on the sphere. And five billion years in their future, deep within a planet then known as New Earth, a line of strange writing was changing shape.


End file.
